City of York Council
The City of York Council is the local authority of York and North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire is covered in Petroleum Exploration and Development License (PEDL) blocks. Controversial fracking firms Third Energy, INEOS and Cuadrilla hope to exploit the county’s shale gas reserves.
These plans have sparked strong opposition from local people, NGOs, parish councils, town councils and district councils in recent years. Dozens of peaceful protests have taken place across the county, including a huge anti-fracking rally in York in July 2016, which attracted thousands of peaceful protesters. North Yorkshire County Council had also received over 4000 letters objecting to Third Energy’s application to begin fracking in Kirby Misperton. In November 2016 Ryedale residents and Friends of the Earth jointly contested the company's plans at a judicial review in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. [1]
Linking 'anti-fracking' protestors with extremism
In November 2016 Spinwatch revealed that the City of York council had been working with the North Yorkshire Police Force on a Prevent strategy that directly linked ‘anti-fracking’ activism with terrorism risks in North Yorkshire.
A ‘Prevent Story Board' published on the council's website placed ‘anti-fracking’ alongside ‘extreme right wing activity’, together with groups linked to the ongoing war in Syria, anti-Israel/pro Palestinian activities, hunt saboteurs and animal rights activists. [1]
The story board included a section titled ‘local picture of need’ and the following statement:
- 'The Counter Terrorism local profile for York and North Yorkshire highlights the key risks to York as evidence of activity relating to Syria, presence of the Kurdistan Worker’s party (PKK), anti-fracking and extreme right wing activity.' (City of York council; December 2015)
The inclusion of fracking campaigners on the ‘Prevent’ list is likely to be highly controversial within the council, which passed a motion to oppose fracking in late October 2014. The council voted overwhelmingly (23 for, 11 against) to pass an ‘anti-fracking’ motion which recognises the serious risks fracking poses to climate change. [1]
The Prevent docum was taken down from the City of York council website four days after Spinwatch revealed its existence, but can still be downloaded here.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Russell Scott, More police forces and councils labelling peaceful anti-fracking protestors as 'extremists' alongside ISIS and far right, Spinwatch, 02 December 2016. Accessed 6 December 2016. Cite error: Invalid
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