Campaigners will meet outside Menwith Hill on American Independence Day, July 4, to protest against the secretive surveillance base.
The event is being organised by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and a letter will be handed to the site’s US Chief of Station. A webinar for people protesting at home will also take place and will include speeches from experts in the field of surveillance.
Sarah Swift from MHAC told the Stray Ferret they want to raise awareness about what goes on at the site, which she called a “great spider’s web underground”.
She said:
“They are collecting so much information and we need to question what the base is doing here.
“Some people see the radomes as beautiful artefacts but I find them very sinister.”
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Ms Swift also said that President Donald Trump’s unique foreign policy style could leave the area exposed to a military attack.
She said:
“I do feel very worried. The first thing in any major conflict is the enemies target communication centres first.”
The Stray Ferret has asked the Ministry of Defence, which owns the site, for a response to the protests. It has not responded at the time of publication.
Built in the 1950s, Menwith Hill is the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base. Giant radomes, or “golf balls”, are a distinctive feature of the site. A 2016 investigation published by The Intercept that included documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden found Menwith Hill has been involved in controversial drone bombing campaigns in Yemen.
Since 2000, protestors have taken part in a weekly demonstration outside Menwith Hill which has been halted due to lockdown.
In February this year, Harrogate Borough Council granted planning permission for the Ministry of Defence to build three new radomes at the site.
Harrogate district to go ‘staycation crazy’ from July 4Campsites, caravan parks and holiday cottages in the Harrogate district are expecting people to go “staycation crazy” over the remaining summer months.
Toni Fernandes is the general manager of the Lido Leisure Park near Knaresborough. It has around 500 caravans that are used throughout the year as second homes. He told the Stray Ferret he was “very, very happy” with the announcement yesterday that they can finally reopen and he has already been inundated with owners who can’t wait to return to the site on July 4.
He said:
“I think there will be a queue! We’ve put a lot of measures in place for the café and the restaurant and the environment is safe for people to isolate themselves.”
He also said that a busy Lido will provide a much-needed boost to the Knaresborough and Harrogate high streets.
He added:
“We can have 2000 people here. The impact that it has on the high street in Knaresborough and Harrogate is massive. We hope opening will really help the local businesses and the economy. We’re very excited and I think staycations are going to go crazy.”
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In Summerbridge, Rosemary Helme owns several holiday cottages that will be open for guests from July 4. She still has vacancies for the rest of the summer and is hopeful that people will be taking advantage of their self-catering facilities.
She welcomed the announcement from the government yesterday on reopening but said guidance on what they are supposed to provide for guests remains “confusing”, especially around cleaning. She said they will be opting for a common-sense approach.
“We’re talking about taking out books, games and things people can move. But you can’t clean a pack of cards for instance, or not without difficulty!”
Nearby in Pateley Bridge, Trevor Brohier and his wife Jules are gearing up to welcome guests to Moorhouse Cottage, which includes both a B&B and self-catering facilities.
Moorhouse Cottage.
Mr Brohier told the Stray Ferret that they are excited to get their business going again.
To begin with, the B&B only be open on weekends to give them a chance to deep clean after guests leave.
He said:
“That will have a really negative effect on turnover but we’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Whilst Mr Brohier said the B&B experience will be as close to normal as possible, fans of familiar B&B staple, the full English breakfast, will have to wait a while longer — as all cooked breakfasts will be off the menu for the time being.