COUNCILLORS are calling for clarification on the possible use of Menwith Hill listening base as part of the United States national missile defence system.

Leeds City Council has raised concerns about the use of both Menwith Hill and Fylingdales as part of the controversial US system designed to act as an early warning system against possible nuclear attacks.

Councillors believe the bases could become a target for rogue states, putting nearby communties, including Otley, at risk.

And it has called for further information about the proposals in order to protect the interests of residents.

Councillors agreed to support the motion in spite of efforts by Aireborough Conservative councillor Graham Latty, who witnessed nuclear tests on Christmas Island in the late 1950s.

Coun Latty argued that the council should support the use of the two bases as a deterrent against any possible future use of nuclear weapons.

He said: "As a national serviceman I served on RAF Christmas Island through the 1958 and 1959 series of tests and was present at two atomic explosions actually on the island and two H bomb tests which took place just off the island.

"I must be one of the few people in the

council who has sat with my hands over my eyes, been shaken by the blast wave, felt the heat wave pass through my body and then when the flash came, looked through my hands as if they weren't there."

Coun Latty said he was also in one of the regular parties sent to clear the site of the A Bomb blasts.

"Although no one seemed to know whether or not the radiation was dangerous, I have never been totally sure that they cared."

He said there were now frequent cases of people there at the time who developed cancer.

Others, like himself, believed every time they suffered something more than cold or flu, it might be something more serious.

"As a result of that experience we are a group of people uniquely fitted to pray that those weapons never be used in anger. We believe Fylingdales and Menwith Hill be used to prevent such a possibility and that all those alive, or unhappily not, were not exposed to those dangers in vain."

Menwith Hill is believed to be the largest

listening station in the world.

The Menwith Hill Forum, chaired by Otley councillor John Eveleigh is pressing for it not to have any involvement in the US system.

The forum believes Otley would be put straight in the firing line if the US was to develop it as part of its defence system.