ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have today staged an 'Axe Drax' demonstration in York, claiming that the giant power station near Selby is causing 'devastation' through its burning of biomass pellets.

Extinction Rebellion York (XR York) claimed Drax was destroying habitats in the American South by chopping down vital biodiverse forests to create the pellets which were shipped to the power station.

It said Drax's claims that their pellets were carbon-neutral and renewable entitled it to hundreds of millions of pounds in annual subsidies, and Government criteria for renewable subsidies needed to change.

But a Drax spokesman said the biomass was 'sourced from working forests which grow back and stay as forests, to generate the electricity that powers millions of homes and businesses.'

He said conversion to sustainable biomass instead of coal at Drax had delivered carbon savings of more than 80 per cent.