A GOVERNMENT minister is stepping into the controversy surrounding the planned upgrade of an RAF base for the US Son of Star Wars missile defence programme.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram will be discussing the implications of the upgrade of RAF Fylingdales, in North Yorkshire, at a public meeting later this month.

The decision came in the wake of fears voiced by a US scientist that radiation from the base could pose a serious threat to health.

Dr Richard Albanese, who is running a health study at a similar base in Cape Cod, where there has been a cluster of cancer cases, said he feared radiation from the radars could cause cancer.

He told the BBC that he would not be prepared to live near the North York Moors base because of his fears.

However, emission levels from Fylingdales are within permitted levels and officials at the Ministry of Defence said they did not believe there was a risk to the community.

Mr Ingram will attend a public meeting at the village hall in Thornton-le-Dale on June 26, at 7pm.

The county council's deputy leader, Murray Naylor, who is also the authority's spokesman on RAF Fylingdales, helped set up the meeting.

He said: "Issues of national defence and security are, of course, a matter for the Government and not for local authorities.

"However, it is important that all the issues connected with proposals at RAF Fylingdales should be debated."