Power station gets court order to stop protesters

Drax Power Limited received a police tip-off about a planned protest camp at its Selby site

The company which runs a power station in North Yorkshire has secured a High Court injunction against would-be environmental activists at its site.

Drax Power Limited received a police tip-off about a planned protest camp and asked for the court's protection at a hearing on Thursday.

A lawyer for the power station said there had been an "escalation in the level of threat" to its site in Selby.

Mr Justice Ritchie granted the order covering the power station and a "buffer zone" around it, stating there was a "compelling justification" for it due to a "real, imminent threat of direct action".

Lawyers for the company said North Yorkshire Police had advised it to seek an injunction following a "specific threat of imminent environmental protest" by the campaign group Reclaim the Power.

The group was "supported, or at least endorsed" by fellow campaign group Axe Drax, they added.

In written submissions, Timothy Morshead KC, representing Drax Power, said a "protest camp" had been advertised as taking place between 8 and 13 August at an undisclosed location at the site.

Submissions added that there was "a real risk this could take place prior to the advertised dates".

The court was told that the power station was part of the UK's Critical National Infrastructure and created 4% of the UK's electricity, and 8% of the country's renewable energy - enough to power the equivalent of eight million homes each year.

'Credible risk'

The site was the subject of protests in the past, with Mr Morshead claiming "there have also been a number of unauthorised drones flying over the power station recently".

He added that there was a "real and credible risk" that protesters could affect the power station, including by trespassing on the site, cutting or "locking on" to its fencing, or obstructing trains which bring biomass materials to it.

The injunction granted on Thursday does not cover what Mr Morshead described as a "strip of land" which is marked out for "peaceful protest", situated "as close as has been judged to be operationally safe".

The injunction will be reviewed in 12 months.

It follows Leeds Bradford Airport also being handed an order which forbids demonstrators from trespassing or causing a nuisance.

Earlier this month, a grandmother who climbed on top of a freight train travelling to the Selby power station as part of a climate protest was told by a court to pay a £3,000 fine.

Karen Wildin, 60, managed to stop the goods train 11 November 2021.

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