CAMPAIGNERS fighting a scheme to put a 50-mile stretch of giant pylons through North Yorkshire have been urged to buy shares in the National Grid so they can lobby shareholders.

Speaking at a packed public meeting in Thirsk, Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh called upon people "to show the revulsion" they feel at National Grid's plans and suggested buying the minimum number of shares needed to be represented at the company's annual meeting.

Protesters also discussed setting up scaffolding the height of the pylons at key sites to alert people to the size of the monster towers, which will be taller than Nelson's Column.

The scaffolding would bear placards telling people how to register their opposition to the pylons.

And it was suggested that landowners should divide up pylon sites and sell them off to multiple buyers, which would mean that National Grid would have to re-apply for permission to use the land.

The action group REVOLT (Rural England Versus Overhead Line Transmissions) organised the meeting to announce its new policy of "maximum resistance within the law", which received resounding cheers and applause.

Coun Peter Sowray further rallied protesters with the news that Hambleton District Council and North Yorkshire County Council are to forge ahead with a judicial review which seeks to overturn the Environment Secretary's decision to allow the 180-ft pylons to go ahead.

After taking advice from barristers and consultants the councils will jointly be seeking judicial review which will be on deposit at the High Court by next Tuesday," he said.

If the case goes all the way it will take many months and we hope REVOLT will be able to lend practical and financial support."

REVOLT announced it was starting up a £10,000 fighting fund and received a cheque for £1,000 from the Countryside Alliance for its "war chest" and revealed a further £3,000 had been promised by the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

And the crowd was not short of ideas to raise the profile of the campaign and make it difficult for contractors to undertake the work, including denying contractors access to any land not covered by the compulsory powers and creating a chain of 229 wildlife ponds on the pylon sites.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.