Fane, Julian – The man who began a nuclear ‘war’

Julian Fane (b1938) 

 

JULIAN Francis Fane is the son of Francis and Joyce Fane. He married Mary Julia Allday, daughter of Michael William Allday, in1965.

Educated at Marlborough College, Marlborough, he graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, in 1966 with a Master of Arts (MA).

He was a magistrate for the Sleaford division for many year and held the office of High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1981 and Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire in 1997 and 2003. He lives at Fulbeck Manor, Fulbeck.

In the mid-80s he lead the campaign group LAND (Lincolnshire Against Nuclear Dumping) in which the Fulbeck villagers won a momentous battle against NIREX to save their back yards from becoming a home to nuclear waste. Nirex had wanted to dump nuclear waste – mainly from hospitals – at the former Fulbeck airfield, on the Lowfields.

Mr Fane was chairman of LAND throughout the campaign.

Around 4,000 people joined land and £40,000 was raised to fight the proposals. Fulbeck became national news and campaigners found they had such influence that they convinced the scriptwriters of Emmerdale Farm to include a long-running nuclear dumping story-line.

On May 1, 1987 the Government abandoned plans to dump waste at any of the four proposed sites. But to this day, Mr Fane and his fellow campaigners are not certain as to the reasons why the idea was scrapped.

Five  years later there was another battle to fight for Mr Fane, when the Leadenham bypass was scheduled to go through ancient woodland. This time he enjoyed a  less success.