CONTROVERSIAL plans to site a mobile phone mast in Bridgnorth’s conservation area were thrown out at the final stage by councillors. The district council’s development control committee on Monday rejected plans by the by communications giant “3” to install the ‘flagpole’ mast on the BT phone exchange in New Road. The plan attracted more than 40 objections from nearby residents. People living in West Castle Street had been bombarding councillors with letters of objection against the proposal on the grounds that the mast would be visually intrusive to residents and visitors and detrimental to the conservation area.

Health

Bridgnorth Town Council also called for the application to be refused. Bridgnorth’s mayor, Councillor Ed Shirley, said: “I have received numerous calls and letters from residents in the Castle ward who are opposed to this application, and among them all there was only one lone voice supporting it. “Most of the people are concerned about the effect it would have on the conservation area and of course the health issue has caused concern.”

Councillor Bryan Jones said he despaired at the telecommunication companies, who continuously bombard the planners with applications for masts in unsuitable locations. “I despair at all these people who keep coming to us with plans for masts inside the conservation areas and an urban areas – I just can’t understand them,” he said.


From Mast Network

LEEDS city councillors, including those representing Morley, have united in their calls for an independent review into national planning rules governing mobile telephone masts. They have passed a resolution asking the Government to give local authorities stronger powers to tackle planning applications for phone masts and base stations. They said mobile phone companies should be subject to the same planning rules and obligations as other people and businesses applying for planning permission.

In a bid to take into consideration the health concerns surrounding such masts, the resolution has also asked that the Government grant emergency planning guidance to local authorities when determining a mast or base station application.

NETWORKS

More and more masts are being put up across the country as companies expand their networks. These have triggered protests in many areas where residents have complained about masts being eyesores or have had worried about the as yet unproven effects on the health of people as a result of long term exposure to constant low levels of radiation.

Residents in East Ardsley were up in arms in October when a 15m high 3G Vodaphone mast was built at Top Fold Farm overlooking the reservoir. The company submitted a retrospective application to allow the mast to stay for six months. The application was rejected in December, enforcement notices were issued and the firm was told to remove the mast by the start of March.

Coun Karen Renshaw (Lab, Ardsley & Robin Hood) who had joined residents in their objections said: "I am delighted that this resolution was given the green light at council last week, as it is important that the Government looks into the issue of planning application legislation once again as soon as possible. "It is vital that we, as a local authority, have the power to combat any potential problems that may arise in the future."

04 March 2005


From Mast Network

[by] Ed Carty

Government plans to erect a mobile phone mast near two schools could harm children's health, it was claimed yesterday.

Campaigners fear radiation from the base station on a public bulding in Rathmines, Dublin, will pose unknown risks to pupils of St. Louis High School and St. Mary's College.

John Gormley, Green Party chairman, said he was totally opposed to the mast and called on Junior Minister Tom Parlon, at the Office of Public Works, to step in and block any building. . . . "

Best, Imelda, Cork.

How uplifting to turn to Irish Senator Martin Mansergh's Saturday column in today's THE IRISH TIMES and find him making this statement "The problem [with masts] arises when, for reasons not clearly understood, whether peculiarities of location and/or the particular susceptibility of individuals, a persistent allergic reaction sets in or is exacerbated, which can be attributed to radiation from a mast and its electromagnetic field." He concludes this article by writing in support of John Ryan's right to have the health-wrecking mast removed from his farm and suggests in his last sentence that "Given the State's unwillingness to intervene, farm organisations should exercise their influence on his behalf."

I will transcribe the entire article below. While the predominant tone of his article is strongly supportive of the socio-economic gains arising from the cellphone industry he does admit to that vital point that a small percentage of people are allergic to/susceptible to EMR. For information on Senator Martin Mansergh's political and intellectual standing in Ireland just enter his name in google search engine:
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=Martin+Mansergh&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=

Best, Imelda, Cork.



THE IRISH TIMES, Saturday, March 5, 2005, page 14
(Opinion and Analysis)

"Action on Ryan case would benefit Vodafone

[by] Martin Mansergh

The film Erin Brockovich of a few years ago, starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney, was a true-life portrayal of an extreme and, one would hope, untypical example of ruthless and unscrupulous corporate behaviour.

Toxic raw materials and reckless waste-management policy under a supine state regulatory system resulted in wholesale abnormalities, cancers and other damage to human and animal health in a settlement neighbouring an industrial plant.

Misinformation and denial of any causal link between widespread health problems and industrial practices crumbled only in the face of determined courage by a woman that pitted a small law-firm against massive corporate resources.

Experience in Ireland shows that even wholly ethical and responsible corporations have difficulty in handling isolted cases, where unusual and abnormal individual health symptoms, for which there is no adequate explanation, occur in the vicinity of their installations. Unproven causal links are on principle denied.

Omega: There are more than unproven causal links for hurtful influence of pulsed microwave radiation and this is long known also from so-called "wholly ethical and responsible corporations". See e.g. under:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html and
"How Industry Manipulates Science" under:
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/350582/


What inhibits remedial action, even on an agreed 'without prejudice' basis, is fear of setting precedents, and encouraging the proliferation of 'professional' or crank protesters. Until recently, regulatory authorities were slow to discommode valuable scarce industry providing badly needed employment, and were rather too ready simply to underwrite with minimal variation the corporate PR line of defence.

Mobile phones are a technology which has made private life and work more flexible and efficient. Contact is easy, though it can sometimes contribute to the sense of hassle. Mobile phones are invaluable for old people, when the car breaks down, for giving notice of delays, keeping track of offspring, avoiding steep hotel charges, and for finding people urgently.

They have eased the problem of teenagers hogging the telpehone at home. The fixed line, like the cruise vis-a-vis the fast ferry, remains the older and more reliable technology, for radio interviews by telephone, for instance.

Mobile phone companies make good profits in a country where people like to talk. The auction of a second mobile phone licence in 1995 for a song made rapid fortunes for a number of players.

The astonishing aspect of it was, not so much the existence, real or alleged, of an inside track in contract-awarding still being investigated by the Moriarty tribunal, but that a State asset for sale could be so grossly undervalued, to the tune of 2,000 per cent or more.

The chief beneficiary, whose company was, by his own assessment, previously living on the edge, went into tax exile.

Like other spectacular commercial successes and failures, it shows that the State needs to professionalise how it does business, preferably by hiring appropriately salaried in-house specialist expertise, rather than overuse of expensive per diem consultancy contracts.

Vodafone, which supplies this columnist's modest needs, recently announced profits of [euros] 341 million. There are continuing arguments about prices, profits and monopolistic competition, on which ComReg's criticisms were given support this week by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications chaired by Noel O'Flynn TD.

Most people's attitude to the mobile phone is positive, towards what has become an indispensable aid to modern living.

The problems of coverage, while not entirely gone away, have been much reduced. There are some objections to mobile phone masts on aethetic grounds, though they are much less obtrusive than electricity pylons or wind turbines.

There has been an inconclusive debate about hazards from mobiles from overuse or to young people.

There is a strong preference for not erecting masts on schools or in residential areas, as much from a precautionary principle as anything else. There is little undisputed evidence of general hazards or serious health and safety warnings applicable to the whole population.

Omega there is much evidence of general hazards and serious health safety warnings see "Mobile Phone and Human Health" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/554581/

Masts are placed on Garda [Irish Police] stations that already have communications equipment, even on church towers, and out in the countryside, mostly with few objections.

The problem arises when, for reasons not clearly understood, whether peculiarities of location and/or the particular susceptibility of individuals, a persistent allergic reaction sets in or is exacerbated, which can be attributed to radiation from a mast and its electomagnetic field.

Such is the well-publicised case of John Ryan, a dairy farmer near Golden, Co. Tipperary, who accepted erection of a mobile phone mast on a hill above his house. It was a remunerative but lopsided contract worth [euros] 10,000 a year, to which he is bound until August 2007, with Vodafone as the lessee able to get out in the first year. According to a medical report, John Ryan developed burning sensations on his skin, and is often unable to sleep at home or stay near the farm.

There is some evidence of a previous history of less severe symptoms, connected by Mr Ryan to the use of a mobile phone. There is no obvious gain, indeed an earnings loss, if the installation were removed early.

It would seem sensible that in instances where an individual is unhappy with the installation from which he and his family profit, on prima facie defensible grounds, the installation should be removed without having to wait for proof.

Mobile phone companies are sufficiently profitable to be able to insure themselves against such rare occurrences. It is an issue of how large corporations treat vulnerable individuals and their families. They should not ride roughshod over them, or require them to seek forms of recourse that are beyond the capacity of most individuals without wealth.

The IRISH TIMES editorial (July 9th, 2004) concluded that 'in certain public controversies, the best solution is to walk away', and that 'operators must display greater flexibility and sensitivity to indiviudal needs'. We have more than enough environmental standoffs.

Belated action on this case would be a credit to the company, and would not detract from the benefits that mobile phone infrastructure can bring to the entire community, including farmers, few of whom could be as unlucky as John Ryan. Given the State's unwillingness to intervene, farm organisations should exercise their influence on his behalf."


Dr Martin Mansergh
Senator for Seanad Éireann
Friarsfield House, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary
Tel: 062-51226 or 01-618 3156
Fax: 062-31028 or 01-618 4793
Email: click here:
http://www.fiannafail.ie/new/site/contact.php4?pid=157&bid=283&show=Senator


And below is news of yet another mast protest in Dublin, based on health fears to school students.

THE IRISH INDEPENDENT, SATURDAY, MARCH 5. PAGE 4

"Fears over phone mast being built near schools
[by] Ed Carty

Government plans to erect a mobile phone mast near two schools could harm children's health, it was claimed yesterday.

Campaigners fear radiation from the base station on a public bulding in Rathmines, Dublin, will pose unknown risks to pupils of St. Louis High School and St. Mary's College.

John Gormley, Green Party chairman, said he was totally opposed to the mast and called on Junior Minister Tom Parlon, at the Office of Public Works, to step in and block any building. . . . "



Irish mast cum cellphone health issue hots up further
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/495427/

CARE HOME RESIDENTS REBEL OVER MOBILE PHONE MAST
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/401288/

MOBILE PHONE HEALTH COMPLAINTS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/264613/

Simmering masts row
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/262043/

John Ryan: Phone mast wrecks my life
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/232655/

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=Mobile+Phone+Health+&btnG=Suche&meta=
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=Mobile+Phone+and+Human+Health&btnG=Suche&meta=

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=142759&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142742&contentPK=11933671&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch


From Mast Network

We sent one second delivery of the born series this year "Electromagnetic Memory", that tries to avoid the forgetfulness of truths of commonplace and warnings that have not been formulated yesterday nor before yesterday, but which go back at least to 2001 or to 2002.

Let us give death to the ignorance that can kill to us in silence.

Health AVECORN Association of Neighbors Against Injurious Radiations of L'Escala (Girona)


Electromagnetic memory - 2/2005

ANTENNAS, STATIONS BASE and the POWER OF the INFORMATION

Remember somebody of the Ministry of Health which we have taxed in our Memory: Informative note Nº 05/2001 to the European Parliament elaborated by the Main directorate of Investigation - STOA - Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options, whose author was Federico BRUCCIANI, under the supervision of Gras CHAMBERS, Director of STOA, and responds description "to the ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS and HEALTH":

"7. - The power of the information supposes for a moment that it was demonstrated that the radiation of the telephony without cable originates, without no doubt, cancer. The mere delay during 6 months of this news would imply much money. Like what it happens with the tobacco, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or commonly mad cow disease) and the global debates of warning, the companies are not inclined to accept the scientific findings passively if these damage their final balance. What is good for the balance leaf not always is good for the public health. ... when knowing the industry the results the investigation in advance increased its power to define what it would happen in the future. This as well affected to the political decisions on the guidelines and the bottoms of investigation.

The inevitable consequence is that the journalists and the public do not know when they can trust the declarations of a company. A report of the conflicts of interests that exist in this field would not be complete if the function of the prestige expert were not mentioned. The magazine to which the mentioned study was sent previously is Radiation Research, one of the main magazines on the sanitary studies of the RF/OM and the expert is also the director associated with direct responsibility on the ionizing radiations. In addition, the expert also receives a pay of the industry of radiotelephony in several different countries. It is doubtless that a conflict of interests exists. It is already sufficiently bad that the consultant receives money of the industry of movable telephony while acts like a guardian of the scientific information.

In addition, the companies of cellular telephony and their advisers must not have known the results in advance experimental. We must have a space of diverse levels in which one talks about to the access the information. Meanwhile, the private interests will continue having little advisable advantage. The public think that it has the right of knowing as there are the proposals and planning with respect to the construction of facilities of CEM that can affect their health. It wishes to have some type of control and to participate in the process of decision making. The new technologies of CEM will generate distrust and fear, unless it settles down an effective system of information to the citizenship and communications adapted between the scientists, the governments the industry and the public."

Author: Federico BRUCCIANI under the supervision of Gras CHAMBERS, Director of STOA. Can the affected by antennas, stations base of mobile telephony and other sources of electropolution trust the Administration and the CAO (Official Academic Science)? Really the Ministry of Health has as much naivete as is conceited? Remembers somebody what they are the GEP? We want to insist on that we have good electromagnetic memory: "FALSE INVESTIGATION and" GOOD YOU PRACTICE EPIDEMIOLOGISTS "(GEP). THE COUNTRY. (17.1.2002).

"Microwave News keeps awake in a study that" some people contracted by the tobacco growers have also worked to protect the interests of the sector of the mobile telephony ". The report of Elisa Ong and Stanton Glantz was published in the November number of 2001 of American Journal of Public Health. The industry of the good tobacco promoted the concept practical epidemiologists (GEP), "who fix standards for the scientific tests, which prevent to demonstrate that the smoke of the tobacco is harmful". "Ong and Glanz warn: "the movement pro GEP, besides to look for the quality of the scientific speech, mounts complex campaigns of public relations, taken by executives and lawyers, who manipulate the scientific standards to protect the corporative interests of their clients".

"THEY EXIST MULTITUDE OF SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF The DAMAGES PRODUCED BY The PROXIMITY OF The STATIONS BASES And IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CONTINUE INVESTIGATING TO KNOW THAT OUR HEALTH IS IN SERIOUS DANGER!

Diffusion by AVECORN initiative avecorn@hotmail.com


Translation Spanish in English: Omega


How Industry Manipulates Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/350582/

The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/394532/

Carole Currie is over the moon. Success was down to team effort.

Geoff.


Subject: O2 Mast, Bertram Drive North, Meols

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the planners report to committee is recommending REFUSAL for the third application!

The attached report only details the first half of the petition - apparently there is a supplementary sheet that goes to committee showing the final numbers - approx. 378 total petition and 197 letters in total.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/plg20055055rpt.pdf

A fantastic result all round !

THANK YOU for all the letters and support.

Carole (ecstatic!!!)

From Mast Network (excerpt)

1/3/2005 - Petitioner says 90% back him

AROUND 90% of people living near a proposed mobile phone mast site have signed a petition against the idea, according to one campaigner.

Peter Burley, of Fern Close, Frimley, has accused T-Mobile of putting the health of his children at risk by proposing to build a mast in Old Bisley Road just yards from his back gate.

So far his petition against it has 750 signatures.

He said: “I went to the area immediately around the proposed site, so they are all directly involved and relevant signatures.

“We have calculated that 750 signatures represents over 90% of people over voting age around the mast area — that speaks volumes and I only hope that T-Mobile listen.”

T-Mobile has not yet submitted a planning application to Surrey Heath Borough Council for the mast to be built but has made its plan clear in letters sent out to some households.

It comprises a 14.7-metre mast, three UMTS antennas and two equipment cabinets.

But the residents want T-Mobile to add this to a group of masts on the nearby ranges in Deepcut Bridge Road.

Mr Burley spoke out when the plans were first circulated and expressed his “grave concern” about the implications for his children’s health.

He said he was worried about their exposure to emissions from a mast 50 metres from his back gate and 70 metres from their bedroom.

He added: “I am not prepared to stand by and wait five or ten years to find out if my kids develop a life-threatening or debilitating condition just so that T-Mobile can make some kind of commercial gain from their customers using ‘advanced series’.”

Ward councillor Fran Bennie handed the petition to Surrey Heath Mayor Cllr Paul Ilnicki.

She said: “It is not an actual planning application yet, so I was allowed to hand in the petition and they will put it in the relevant file so if an application does come in it will be ready.

“It is unusual that we were able to present a petition before, as they are usually too late and don’t have the same impact.

“People are worried by a great density of phone masts by their houses. They are not saying please don’t have a mast, but saying put it with the existing masts nearby.

“This seems very sensible to me and there is huge support for this from the residents.”

Mr Burley said: “It is supposed to be policy for phone companies to share masts where they can.
“Orange, Hutchison and O2 are already up there. T-Mobile should share those masts and they have not given a reasonable explanation as to why they cannot.”

A T-Mobile spokesman had said previously: “The careful siting of our base stations is vital to ensure reliable coverage for users of our network.

“In line with government guidelines we consider site sharing and existing mast locations where possible.

“In this case, due to technical and structural reasons, we were not able to share a site.

“We are still considering our options in this area.”

Picture: Peter Burley and Cllr Fran Bennie with the petition


From Mast Network