Plans have been submitted to construct new buildings and roads at US spy base RAF Menwith Hill.

Menwith Hill, which is on the outskirts of Harrogate, is one of the United States’ largest overseas surveillance bases.

Its 37 giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the 500-acre site, where much of the secretive activity takes place underground.

A request for an environmental impact assessment screening opinion, which comes before a full planning application, has been submitted to North Yorkshire Council to put up new structures on the northern side of the base.

No new radomes are planned but the project would see the construction of an administration building and another building for technical equipment.

Planning documents say the works would also involve putting in generators, air-cooled chillers, transformers and power distribution modules.

Access roads, a refuelling bay, footpaths, a small car park and a secure perimeter fence surrounding the facilities would also be built.

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Several new radomes have been built at the site in recent years and in 2022 plans were approved to build a new visitor centre, vehicle canopy and changes to the road junction on Menwith Hill Road.

RAF Menwith Hill was built in the 1950s and leased to the US during the height of the Cold War but it has continued to be used to support American military operations abroad including during the war on terror.

The site is also used by UK intelligence agency GCHQ.

Leaked documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden identified Menwith Hill as providing the intelligence for a significant number of operations to “eliminate” targets in the Middle East.

A 45-foot long ‘communications container compound’ could be built at RAF Menwith Hill.

A planning application submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by the Ministry of Defence, which owns the site, says the new building would cover 464 square metres and help ‘meet the operational output of the station’.

There are no other details about what work would take place within the new building. The plans also include provision for a large fuel tank.

Built in the 1950s on the edge of Nidderdale, Menwith Hill is the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base.

Giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the site.

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Recent expansion

There have been several planning applications to expand the base in the past couple of years.

Last year the MoD was granted planning permission to build three more radomes.

In February, the council also approved plans for another radome as well as an electrical substation.

Separate plans were submitted to add a new visitor centre, vehicle canopy and changes to the road junction on Menwith Hill Road.

Last month, a new report alleged the base provided intelligence for American drone bombings campaigns in the Middle East, including the high-profile assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.