Victorious villagers have won the support of West Norfolk planning chiefs in their fight against a mobile phone mast extension at Castle Acre.

Last Monday, development control board members went against officers' advice and refused planning permission for a new police communications system to be added to Orange's present 30m mast north of Orchard Lane in the village.

Board members decided the phone operator had failed to demonstrate that the perceived health risks of the proposed "Tetra" radio system were unfounded.

Residents were relieved and delighted by the decision, their victory clouded only by the possibility of an appeal with an uncertain outcome.

A 150-signature petition and 65 letters of protest were considered by the board. Written objections were received from the village school and parish council and three residents spoke in person at the meeting.

They included parish council clerk Mr Bill Corcoran, who said afterwards: "Our feeling is one of relief and we would like to express our appreciation to the board. There were some quite specific individual comments from members expressing their worries and concerns about a system such as this which could impair health, particularly in children."

Castle Acre anti-Tetra campaign spokesman Ms Charlie Williams, also spoke at the meeting and said later: "I'm glad that in this instance common sense has prevailed and the borough council recognised it has a duty to protect the health and promote the safety of our children. Tetra emissions remain largely untested so 100 per cent safety is not guaranteed."

She urged anyone seeking more information about the radio system to use the websites http://www.sitefinder.radio. gov.uk , http://www.mastsanity.org and http://www.tetrawatch.net

Ward councillor Gwyneth Thorneywork said the meeting went "better than we could have imagined."

Although very pleased, she suspected that villagers had not heard the last of the application. Some similar rejected schemes had been won on appeal and she said: "We can't just sit back now."

If an appeal was lodged, Mrs Thorneywork predicted a fierce fight from the village. "We have got some brilliant residents who have worked tirelessly. We will be geared up if it happens," she said.

Parish council chairman Mrs Jean Joice echoed that view saying: "I am very grateful to everyone in the village. We have had remarkable support and I'm sure people will be prepared to support us again if necessary."

Castle Acre Primary School protested about the closeness of the mast to the site for its new school in Back Lane and raised fears about the long-term health consequences for pupils.

The parish council pointed out: "No evidence of safety exists for the system. On the contrary, it is a development of a transmission system originally intended for use as an anti-personnel weapon."

The application proposed adding three new antennae on metre-high pole mounts and a 600mm transmission dish to the lattice structure of the existing mast.

In favour of the application, the development board heard the additions would supply essential radio coverage for Norfolk Police, providing a vital facility beneficial to the entire community.

The visual impact would not be significant and the site was enclosed by mature vegetation.

The proposal also met International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection guidelines, board members heard.

14 December 2005

http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=991&ArticleID=1284738

http://www.omega-news.info/next_up_news_15_dec_2005.htm


- Dossier spécial du 14 décembre 2005 Suspendu.

- La réponse de Next-up au message de Michaël Repacholi (OMS).
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=international#14

- Suspended special file (december 14, 2005)
http://www.next-up.org/main.php?param=international#14

14 December 2005 12:17

Council bosses have suspended an application for a telecommunications mast in the grounds of a school after they admitted parents had not been consulted about the scheme.

Broadland District Council received an application from BT, on behalf of Norfolk County Council, to put the 15 metre mast, with 0.3metre microwave dish, at Cantley First School, School Lane, Cantley.

The proposal, which is part of a Government drive to get Broadband installed at every school in the country by 2006, would ensure that pupils are not falling behind in what has become an increasingly technology-dependent educational system.

But the proposal has now been suspended because it emerged that the people living in the area had not been properly consulted about the mast.

Today, despite reassurances that the mast would not pose a health risk to children, campaign group Mast Sanity urged a degree of caution.

Its technical advisor Andy Davidson said: “They use a similar frequency to mobile phone masts and similar digital technology. While we don't know what causes health problems it's unwise to say one kind of mast is better than the other.”

Paul Fisher, the county council's assistant director, resources and efficiency, children's services, said: “It seems that consultation has not happened with local residents as it should, and so we have suspended the installation at Cantley.

“We do want to make sure residents are involved and want to hear their views. The school will now be making sure that this happens. Of course, people can also make their views known in response to any planning application as well.”

The county council is ensuring that 451 of the 453 schools in Norfolk are set up with Broadband by 2006. The other two schools are getting it done independently.

A council spokesman said the most cost effective solution to installing Broadband is by using copper, but in some cases, where the distance to the exchange is too great, fibre has to be used.

“However, in the more remote parts of the county, the cost of fibre becomes prohibitively expensive,” he said.

“In these instances point to point wireless is used. BT responded to Norfolk County Council with the option of using point-to-point wireless technology for schools in more remote parts of the county, which they had successfully implemented to schools in several counties within the eastern region; Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, being just two.

The technology requires a dish, typically 30cm in diameter, to be mounted either on a mast within the school grounds, or on the school building itself.”

As with mobile phone masts, there is some debate over whether they pose a risk to health. A spokesman for BT said: “The equipment used for these kinds of installations are low-power, point-to-point masts and they confirm to all EU directives for emissions.”

A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said the main risk to children was not from masts but from mobile phone handsets.

Omega see under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Hayley Smith, head teacher, admitted a mast is the last thing she wants towering over her school.

“The school hasn't asked for this, it's being done by BT,” she said. “We have asked for the planners and everyone else to see if they can find an alternative to putting up a mast. The school doesn't want to upset neighbours and the school doesn't want a mast and if there's any other way of doing it that's what we would like to do.

Mrs Smith said the children at the school would be “disadvantaged” if they did not have access to Broadband from schools in the rest of the area.

“I don't want a mast any more than anyone else, but we want the Broadband,” she said.

Through the Put Masts on Hold campaign the Evening News has campaigned against the installation of mobile phone masts until it is proved they are safe.

Dr Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, who has been a long-time supporter of our campaign, said: “If you can do it on a phone line you should do it on a phone line.

“What neighbours think is rather important and if they are worried about it I don't think any reassurance will stop them and it would be better to do it on a phone line - other schools have done it on phone lines.”

Are you fighting plans for a mast in your neighbourhood? Call Alasdair McGregor at the Evening News on (01603) 772443 or email al.mcgregor@archant.co.uk

http://tinyurl.com/9aa6a

Dec 14 2005

By Luke Traynor, Liverpool Echo

RADIO waves from a Liverpool phone mast are causing posh cars to break down.

The 70ft pole in Childwall is pumping out waves with a similar frequency to those used in the alarm and immobiliser systems of some expensive vehicles.

A resident in nearby Walgrave Street had to sell his Mercedes because it broke down repeatedly, despite him paying for £1,000 of modifications.

Gareth and Lyn Davies were left stranded in the road after taking their new Lexus to visit a relative.

They had to barricade the vehicle inside a cordon of vans to block the waves before they could restart the engine.

The car breakdowns have heightened fears about safety among residents, despite assurances from mobile phone company Orange that the mast is safe.

Mrs Davis said: "Either way, the beams are too strong coming from the phone mast, or there's a serious fault with my car.

"Do we have to avoid driving down any roads with phone masts on to stop this from happening again?

"I'm worried that the engine could cut out when driving down the motorway, which would be a lot more dangerous."

A mechanic explained that cars with keyless entry and ignition worked on radio waves that sometimes suffered interference from phone masts.

They abandoned the car in Walgrave Street, as the automatic steering lock prevented it being moved, and needed two lorries to block out the beams. Neighbours spoke of their shock about the waves beaming from the mast by the Rocket pub on Queens Drive, at the end of the M62.

Madeline Gregory, 70, said: "Everybody is very worried about the masts in the area.

"Cars only seem to break down in our street and drivers don't have problems anywhere else.

"I try not to open my window if I can help it as I try to keep out the way of these rays."

A spokesman for Lexus said the incidents were rare and the problem would occur only when the vehicle was stationary.

He said: "It can happen if there are transmitters on masts similar to the radio waves that the car works on."

A spokesman for Orange said: "In our experience, it is not our masts causing problems but failings in the car electrics itself.

"Our technology works at a specific frequency band so no other piece of electrical equipment should cross over into our frequency band, and vice versa.

"Our emission levels are hundreds of times within the strict international health and safety guidelines."

Omega read "Base Stations, operating within strict national and international Guidelines, do not present a Health Risk?" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/771911/

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16483902&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=it-s-driving-us-crazy--name_page.html

A MAN who moved his family more than 170 miles to get away from telephone masts now faces having one built near his new home.

David Powell has lived in Hagworthingham for five years after moving from Newbury, Berkshire, which has a high rate of childhood leukaemia - one of the health risks associated by some with mobile phone masts.

The dad of two explained: "We deliberately moved into a conservation area to get away from the masts."

His family now faces living in the shadow of a proposed 22.5 metre mobile phone mast at Mount Pleasant Farm, Hagworthingham.

He is just one member of the newly formed Hagworthingham Action Group (HAG) which opposes the mast, applied for by phone company O2.

Dean Martin lives 200ft (60 metres) away from the site and Alison Thompson lives just 75ft (22 metres) away.

The mast will also overshadow a well-used public footpath. HAG members say more than 70 per cent of the nearby 300 residents are opposed to the mast.

Their main objections are due to the health risks associated with these types of masts, including cancer.

The site is also in an area of outstanding natural beauty which government guidelines on the siting of masts state should be avoided if possible.

Residents feel there are many other masts nearby which could be shared by O2, an option strongly encouraged by the government yet one which residents feel has not been fully explored by O2.

Mr Martin added: "We are not saying we don't want or don't need a mast, we are just saying we don't want it so close to residential properties."

Mr Martin and Mr Powell insist if the mast were to be built they would move away from the area - despite facing a loss of up to 50 per cent on the value of their homes.

Mrs Thompson has been told by an estate agent her house would be un-sellable if the mast was built.

Mum of three Alison Darling, who lives 500 yards from the proposed site, asked how a mast could be built so near children's homes when it is so difficult to get permission for one near a school.

She added: "We live in a disposable society, does this now extend as far as the disposal of our children and their habitat?"

* The News contacted O2 for its comments but these had not been received at the time of going to press.

http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=825&ArticleID=1284802

Villagers in West Felton have formed a protest group to try to stop a mobile phone mast being switched on in their area. Campaigners were knocking on doors yesterday, collecting signatures for a petition.

The 50-foot structure was put up near The Avenue in the village near Oswestry in September by mobile phone giant Orange.

Local people, who knew nothing of the plans, fear that it could pose a health risk. They say it is already a blot on the landscape.

Oswestry Borough Council says Orange went through all the proper legal channels in 2002 to get permission for the 15-metre high 3G mast, although new rules mean that councils now have to inform people near mast sites when they are about to be put up.

Protestor Carol Corbett said: “We are fighting for the total dismantling and removal of the mast and have organised a meeting in our village hall on January 18 at 7.30pm.”

“Our MP Owen Paterson is giving us his support and has agreed to present the petition for us.”

The full version of this story appears in the Oswestry edition of tonight’s Shropshire Star.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=40249

Lib Dems oppose ex-church scheme

Lucy Harvey

A MOBILE phone mast will be built on top of a Grade II listed former church in Sheffield if city councillors follow planning officers' advice, even though some of their colleagues on the authority object to the plan.

Plans to site the mast on top of the former Walkley Ebeneezer Methodist Church on the corner of South Road and Greenhow Street have provoked concern among residents and strong objection from three local councillors. Previous planning applications to site a 6.5 metre-high flagpole antenna on top of the two-storey building, now used as student accommodation, were refused after residents raised a petition and collected hundreds of signatures.

But a different applicant has now asked permission to use the site to mount smaller flat panel antennae on each face of the building's south-west chimney. The firm has requested an equipment cabinet be based in the cellar of the building with cabling and power feed to the antennae run through a mock drainpipe.

The proposals have prompted 11 letters of objection, including comments from Liberal Democrat councillors Diane Leek, Veronica Hardstaff, and Jonathan Harston.

Objectors highlight possible health implications from the mast and say it is inappropriate in a residential area, close to community groups and a medical centre; it will have a negative impact on local businesses and discourage people from moving to the area.

They also believe it will devalue property and have a detrimental effect on the appearance and character of the listed building.

And they fear because the mast is at the bottom of a hill the signal will be restricted and lead to similar applications for a taller mast in the future and say there is existing mobile phone coverage in the area.

But at the west and north planning and highways board tomorrow planning officers will recommend planning permission is granted.
"The first application proved having a mast there is not the right thing and it was refused on good grounds. Now another company has come in and they think they can do better, but that is against all common sense," said Coun Leek.

"They were very crafty jumping in on the back of the last application and a lot of local people didn't realise there was a new application.

"We have already got masts nearby. This is in the wrong location at the bottom of the hill so it is not going to be able to reach the signals and it sets a dangerous precedent for them to make it bigger in the future. I would not trust them.

"It still has not been proved that the radiation that comes from them is not harmful.

"There is a high concentration of people in the area and it's in a shopping location."

Planning officers report: "Owing to the size, design and stealth appearance of the antennas the development is not considered to detrimentally affect the character and appearance of the listed building or visual amenities of the locality.

"The external finish of the antennas will not be prominent or obtrusive from both short and long distance vantage points of the building. The applicants have discounted a number of alternative sites, which they say are unacceptable from design and siting perspectives and for technical coverage reasons."

12 December 2005

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1084&ArticleID=1282950