A LIBERAL leader was lambasted by a fellow Ryedale councillor for demanding an expensive public inquiry into RAF Fylingdales.

At a meeting of Ryedale District Council Coun Helen Schroeder criticised the motion tabled by Coun John Clark as "an Ill-conceived, knee-jerk reaction", "tabloid" and "attention-seeking".

The motion was for an inquiry into the alleged request by the US to site interceptor missiles at RAF Fylingdales, the need for the base in a National Park and what role it played in the defence of the UK.

"I think the time has now come quite clearly for the people of Ryedale to be taken into discussion and debate as to what Fylingdales is for and what it's about, and so on," Coun Clark told fellow members and a packed public gallery.

Coun Schroeder, chairman of the North York Moors National Park Authority, circulated a letter from Jenna Durrant, at the Directorate for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Policy, at the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

It read: "As regards the future usage of the site, MoD repeats its statement that there are no current plans for developments at the RAF Fylingdales site, and that future major developments are unlikely. There is no planned change in the usage of the Fylingdales site as a radar establishment . . ."

Coun Schroeder said: "You are certainly not going to get any more of a guarantee than that back from a public inquiry. I find it quite extraordinary that Coun Clark, who is asking us to consider our budget line by line, can actually be so ready to spend thousands of pounds, maybe tens of thousands of pounds, on a lengthy public inquiry, which I really do believe will have little benefit for Ryedale or its people."

The letter stated that emissions met National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) guidelines. An independent survey completed when the phased-array radar became operational in 1991 it agreed with MoD findings that the radar posed no public health hazard and that the Environmental Land Use report showed the upgraded radar would not pose increased levels of radio frequency exposure.

Coun Schroeder said the chief executive of the National Park Authority, Andy Wilson, would write to the NRPB and ask it to confirm that emissions were entirely safe, that they fell within the national guidelines and ask if it considered further studies necessary to monitor health issues.

"I call upon you to reject this headline-seeking move by Coun Clark, the sort of motion which is in danger, I believe, of bringing this council into disrepute," said Coun Schroeder.

Three members voted for the motion and 26 against. There were boos from the public gallery when the motion was recorded as lost.

Updated: 10:34 Monday, November 15, 2004