September 25, 2019 11.08 am This story is over 53 months old

Climate change activists sentenced after gas power station protest

Protestors climbed cranes and blockaded entrances

Climate change protestors who climbed cranes and blockaded the entrances to the construction site at SSE’s £350 million Keadby 2 power station in Lincolnshire have been sentenced in court.

As previously reported, The Reclaim The Power campaign group said they were trying to shut down the construction site just off the A18 west of Scunthorpe on July 30, with a number of protestors taking action against fossil fuels.

Five women pleaded guilty at Grimsby Magistrates Court on Tuesday, September 24 with the following outcomes:

  • Ellen Gibson, 25, of Almond Close in London and Leilah Botham, 41, of Compass Close in Oxford were both given a 12-month conditional discharge for unlawful obstruction of a highway
  • Zoe Smith, 42, of Llandaff Road in Cardiff, Elizabeth Howson, 26, of Park Crescent in Bristol and Maddy Yarwood, 25, of Park Crescent in Bristol were each given a 12-month conditional discharge for obstructing/disrupting of a person engaged in a lawful activity

All five defendants were also ordered to pay £85 court costs.

Protestors at SSE’s Keadby 2 power station. Photo: Reclaim The Power

In a video posted on Twitter by Reclaim The Power, Ellen Gibson said: “We did an action in July against the construction of a new gas power station in Lincolnshire, the only gas power station currently under construction in the UK.

“We think it totally violates the UK’s commitments on climate change and so we can’t have any new gas power stations being built in the UK at all.”

SSE previously said the power station will use the first of its kind, high efficiency gas-fired generation technology. It will be constructed as a full turnkey solution by Siemens, which will also provide plant servicing under a 15-year contract.

A spokesperson for SSE previously said: “SSE’s business strategy addresses the challenge of climate change at its core, as the leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across the UK. However, we understand that flexible thermal generation will play a critical role in the transition to ‘Net Zero’ emissions, particularly with the emerging potential for carbon capture and storage technologies.

“When completed, we expect Keadby 2 to be the cleanest and most-efficient gas-fired power station in Europe, displacing less efficient plant from the system, complementing our renewable assets, and safeguarding customers’ power supplies.”