Police put on Drax Power Station protest alert (From York Press)

Police put on Drax Power Station protest alert

10:00am Tuesday 13th October 2009 in News

POLICE have set up camp outside Drax Power Station in anticipation of a possible repeat of the 2006 climate change protest, when more than 2,000 eco-campaigners descended on the plant in an attempt to close it.

Although members of the protest group, Climate Camp, have chosen Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, in Nottinghamshire, as the target for this year’s Great Climate Swoop, North Yorkshire Police say they are not taking any chances.

Ten days of “mass action” in 2006 left them with a bill for £3.8 million, and a spokesman for the force said they had put in place a contingency plan to prevent any potential impromptu action getting out of control.

He said: “North Yorkshire Police has been working with partner agencies to plan for any potential action by climate campaigners.

“The contingency plans, which include an increased policing presence in and around local power stations, are in the context of this week’s Climate Camp in the Nottinghamshire area and also the protest at the Houses of Parliament.

“We also remain mindful that North Yorkshire was the focus of the Climate Camp protest in 2006.”

But Richard Howlett, a spokesman for Climate Camp, said it had no plans to target Drax this week.