'Too busy to talk about nukes'

Neil Bye, one of the region's most active nuclear campaigners.

For years, Neil Bye from Castleton has campaigned for nuclear disarmament.

In 2009 he says his work to highlight the dangers of climate change means he is now too busy to talk about the atom bomb.

That is not to say you won't see Neil at anti-nuclear rallies. In June 2009 his presence was conspicuous at the CND protest at RAF Fylingdales, the early warning radar base just over the moor from his home and for a lot of years, the main focus of Neil's energies.

For a long time though, the Cold War's contribution to Neil's local landscape was not an issue of concern for him. "I've been coming to Fylingdales ever since I was a kid, when they had the golf balls here. I used to walk here."

In fact, it was reports of the MoD was taking nuclear missiles from submarines near Faslane in Scotland to Reading for servicing that first prompted Neil to get political. "It means they are driving these missiles up and down the A1," said Neil.

"When I found out about that I was fairly appalled and that led to joining CND. Joining CND led to me finding out what was happening at Faslane, so I lived at Faslane Peace Camp for a few years.

"People want to believe that life is comfortable and life will go on the way it is, it's the comfort factor."

"It wasn't particularly hard living there. We had a regular bus service there, so as long as you didn't run out of fuel, or run out of food, we had nice dry caravans, so it wasn't uncomfortable."

Trouble in the Shire

Neil spent years campaigning for the CND.

When Neil left the Faslane camp, he returned to his home in Castleton, only to find the very debate he had been engaged in had arrived on his doorstep.

In 2003, the British government signed an agreement with the United States, allowing it to upgrade the RAF Fylingdales radar station near Whitby to form part of the US Missile Defence Shield.

"When I came back down here to Castleton, I found out that this was going on. When I found out they were intending to install this at Fylingdales I formed Free Fylingdales Network."

At the height of the debate over whether Britain should become part of the system, Neil's organisation held at protest at the base every month.

"As a local, I don't want it here because it makes us a target. Obviously if you're going to attack America, you attack its defences first. After all, it's defending America, it's not defending us. I don't like the idea of the Americans militarising space. At the moment they say this is part of the Missile Defence System, if they follow along this road, it'll be missiles in space, lasers in space and God knows what. It's the beginning of a rocky road."

A new threat

In August 2007, the upgrade at Fylingdales was complete. The base was technically ready to play its part in the Missile Defence System, but by then, Neil already had other things on his mind.

"I've become much more concerned about climate change. Being concerned about climate change, I don't have time to talk about Fylingdales all the time.

"Very, very few people understand the full implications of climate change, basically what we are letting ourselves in for and trying to communicate that to the general public is virtually impossible."

Neil now administers the website for the environmental group, Climate Camp and says his biggest challenge is getting people to listen to his message.

"There's a lot of resistance to believing it. People want to believe that life is comfortable and life will go on the way it is, it's the comfort factor. If they feel they have to make any drastic changes in their lives now to avert something terrible in the future then most people just don't go for it."