A FRACKING protester has been banned from Beverley. However, Darren Nesbitt will be allowed to return to the town to perform at this year's Beverley Folk Festival.
Mr Nesbitt appeared at Beverley Magistrates' Court charged with using threatening or abusive behaviour within sight of persons likely to be caused alarm, harassment or distress. He pleaded not guilty to the offence.
The court heard that Mr Nesbitt, who is from Bury, but is currently staying near Walkington at a protest site, caused upset in Beverley town centre last month when he sang "stick your new world order up your a***".
Mr Nesbitt was released on bail, but told by District Judge Fred Rutherford not to enter Beverley, apart from between June 19 and 23 for the Beverley Folk Festival.
Solicitor Helen White, representing Mr Nesbitt, said: "It is a comedy song and was not meant to cause offence to the locals. He did not intend to cause distress or alarm."
Campaigners are concerned drilling will start sooner than expected on a site they believe could lead to fracking.
Lorries with drilling equipment and cabins arrived at the West Newton site, near Burton Constable, at the end of the week.
Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd has also put up fencing and secured the site.
The move has raised concern among anti-fracking campaigners who have set up camps at west Newton and Crawberry Hill, near Walkington.
Rathlin has always insisted it is not fracking – a way of breaking up shale rock to release natural gas – but campaigners are concerned after the Environment Agency granted Mining Waste Permits for the Canadian energy company to carry out testing at both sites.
Mr Nesbitt will stand trial at Bridlington Magistrates' Court on Thursday, July 17.
Also appearing at Beverley Magistrates' Court yesterday was Dominic Mcloughlin, who had been charged with obstructing a highway and possessing a knife in a public place.
The 28-year-old was arrested in Pipers Lane, West Newton, near Aldbrough, last week.
Mr Mcloughlin, who is travelling around the world and stopped off in the East Riding campaigning against fracking, was given a two-year conditional discharge while the obstructing the highways charge was dropped.
District Judge Fred Rutherford accepted his reason that the knife, as a survival tool, was part and parcel of the way he lived his life, but ordered him to forfeit it for destruction.
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