Campaigners will hold an Independence from America demonstration at RAF Menwith Hill on Tuesday.
Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and Yorkshire CND have timed the event to coincide with the Fourth of July — American Independence Day.
The groups believe the American spy base poses a significant risk to local people because its surveillance work makes it a military target.
The demonstration aims to increase awareness of US operations at the base and ensure activities take place in accordance with UK and international law.
RAF Menwith Hill. Photo credit – Wikimedia.
Running from 5pm to 8pm, speakers include Peter Burt of Drone Wars UK, Prof Fiona Macauley from Bradford Peace Studies and Prof David Webb from Yorkshire CND.
There will also be a steel band, performance poet and a choir.
This year’s gathering will not occur outside the main gate as usual. Instead if will take place at Kettlesing lay-by on the A59 as the area around the main gate will be closed for upgrades and expansions.
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Menwith Hill upgrades part of £2.8bn programme
The Ministry of Defence has revealed plans to upgrade RAF Menwith Hill as part of a £2.8 billion project to improve United States military bases in the UK.
Last week, the MOD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation appointed a consortium of building consultants, Mace, Turner & Townsend and Atkins, as a delivery partner for building works at RAF Menwith Hill and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
The works are part of the United States Visiting Forces Infrastructure Programme.
An MOD spokesperson told the Stray Ferret the aim of the programme was to provide a base for American F-35 fighter jets at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk and to further support the US Air Force presence in the UK, which includes at RAF Menwith Hill on the outskirts of Harrogate.
As part of the programme, which will be paid for by the US government, various buildings at the base will be replaced or improved. The contract with Mace, Turner & Townsend and Atkins, could also be extended to eight years.
In response to a question this week from Leeds North West Labour MP Alex Sobel, the government revealed the works at Menwith Hill will cost $40m.
Steve Rix, programme director at the MOD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said it would help the US military “execute missions” from the UK.
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Upset and anger at plans to remove MP’s memorial tree at Menwith Hill
Built in the 1950s, Menwith Hill is one of the United States’ largest overseas surveillance bases. Giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the 500-acre site
A campaign group has called the planned upgrades at RAF Menwith Hill “of concern”.
Martin Schweiger, a spokesperson for the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign, said:
Menwith Hill to expand with new ‘golf ball’“The news that a large contract is being let for substantial upgrades to the infrastructure at Menwith Hill is of concern. The specification of the upgrades has not, so far, been made available to the public.
“There is now a substantial and growing US military boot print across the UK that ties our military activity to what we are directed to do.
“The upgrades make it plain that this military occupation is set to continue for a long time into the future”.
Harrogate Borough Council has granted the Ministry of Defence planning permission to build a new 30-metre high radome and electrical substation at RAF Menwith Hill.
It follows an application last year from the MoD to build three more radomes at the site, which was also passed.
There are now over 30 distinctive radomes, or “golf balls”, at the secretive site. The radomes are believed to house satellites and transmitters.
Washburn Parish Council said it was concerned by the expansion, as well as the detrimental visual impact created by the new radome.
However, it said it “recognises the important security roll” that Menwith Hill plays.
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In granting the application, council case officer Mike Parkes said the national security benefits of the radome outweighed its “harmful effects” on the Nidderdale landscape.
Built in the 1950s on the edge of Nidderdale, Menwith Hill is the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base.
Since 2000, protestors have taken part in a weekly demonstration outside Menwith Hill, which has been halted due to lockdown.
Sarah Swift, from the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign group, said:
“We find the expansion of the site and of the base’s operations very worrying indeed.
“We believe that the activities of the base do not enhance the security of our area, our country or our world.”