Residents in Whalley Range oppposed to T Mobile's proposal to site a 3G mast (15m) high on the ground's of Whalley Range Football Club, Kings Road, Chorlton are meeting on Tuesday 1st March 2005 at the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple at 7pm. The meeting will be held in the hall not the temple itself so that is accessible to the muslim community.

We would welcome any information on how to stop prior notification going through as manchester city council planning department told us today, they are nothing to do with the process and can't stop anything from going through. They have advised us to speak with the football club - however the football club recently refused to accept a petition with 400 plus names on.

Any advice greatly received - please email: stopthemast@hotmail.co.uk

Nicky Lidbetter
Senior Manager
National Phobics Society
Zion Community Resource Centre
339 Stretford Road
Hulme
Manchester
M15 4ZY
Tel: 0870 7700 456
Fax: 0161 227 9862
Email: nationalphobic@btconnect.com
Website: http://www.phobics-society.org.uk


From Mast Network

Feb 23 2005

By Anthony Harvison, Crewe Chronicle

THE possibility of a phone mast being erected near a built-up area of Coppenhall is alarming residents worried it could be a health hazard.

Mobile phone company Vodafone is in the early stages of seeking planning permission for a mast in Parkers Road to provide third generation services to users in the area.

But the news has shocked nearby residents, fearful over the effects electromagnetic radiation emitted by the masts might have on their health. It follows fears voiced in the Chronicle last week by people living near four masts at Hough and Chorlton.

Geoff Wilson, of Elmstead Close, is leading a campaign to stop the mast getting planning permission. He feels it is in a totally unsuitable location. He said: 'It is a ludicrous position to place a mast. There are dozens of farmers' fields six or seven hundred yards down the road which would be a better site than this. 'It's really slap-bang in the middle of a residential area, with hundreds of houses, an old people's home literally 50 yards away and two schools in the vicinity, Mablins Lane and Leighton.

'As a parent of a three-year-old son this is a major concern. I know we have got to move on and we all want better phone reception but my main worry is health. These radio signals do not go round the long way. They go straight through the houses.'

Mr Wilson has been receiving support from national pressure group Mast Sanity and is in the process of contacting Eddisbury MP Stephen O'Brien. He has also gained the assistance of Independent councillor for Leighton, Byron Evans, who expressed sympathy for the residents' plight: 'People are not totally convinced of the safety of these masts in the long-term. We will look into this to see if the positioning is appropriate or not.'

A spokesman for Vodafone said the proposed mast has to be near the housing estate to be effective, adding: 'We do understand that some people will have concerns but we have got to balance that with the need to provide a mobile phone service to many millions of customers. 'We comply with stringent international guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation which has said that despite enormous amounts of research, there is no substantiated evidence of any adverse health effects.'


From Mast Network

http://tinyurl.com/69far


From Mast Network

http://www.thisisdroitwichspa.co.uk/worcestershire/droitwich/news/DROIT_NEWS_LATEST7.html#


From Mast Network

http://newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/86296012?


From Mast Network

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/10882_print.shtml


Informant: Robert Riedlinger

11:00 - 23 February 2005

May I correct two errors in the Conservative leaflet distributed to Bath residents? In Lyncombe ward, the Liberal Democrat councillors have reacted most vigorously to local residents' concerns about the phone mast that mmO2 wished to erect at the Bear Flat.

First the council turned down the application and now the local councillors are helping the telecom company look for another site away from houses and schools.

We Bear Flat residents should feel pleased that our councillors have worked so hard for us on this matter. Of course this site should never have been recommended in the first place; the people to blame for this are the planning department officers who disregarded Government guidelines and the wishes of local people.

The second mistake in the leaflet is that it states there is no evidence of any ill effects from phone masts. There have been several scientific studies that have shown ill effects. The Government-funded Stewart report concludes that it is not possible to say that exposure to RF radiation is totally without adverse health effects and goes on to recommend that a precautionary approach should be adopted.

I hope that any further leaflets put out by the Conservative party will have these errors corrected.

TESSA NEWMAN

Elm Place, Bath

http://tinyurl.com/5k2v9

From Mast Network

A CAMPAIGN has been launched for a law change so that planning authorities can consider the health risks of mobile phone masts.

Studies have linked radiation from mobile phones and the masts to conditions such as ear and brain tumours.

Under the current law planning committees can reject applications for masts on their visual appearance but not on the possible health dangers.

Now Poole council and residents have called on MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole Annette Brooke and Poole MP Robert Syms, to lobby the government for a change in the law.

Poole councillor Charles Meachin said: "It's appalling. The planning officers want to take health issues into consideration, but can't.

"Local people can't take into account if these masts are going to affect our children."

Residents are behind the plan after several recent failures to stop mobile masts going up:

Parents were furious when O2 was given permission to install a mast in Herbert Avenue near St Joseph's School in Poole.

A government inspector overturned East Dorset planners' rejection of a 21-metre mast in Cannon Hill Plantation - just half-a-mile from Colehill First School.

Just before Christmas residents in Branksome lost their fight to stop a mobile mast being built in The Avenue.

People protested against a mast put up in Butts Pond.

At the moment residents and dog walkers in Parkstone are fighting to stop a Vodafone mast being put up at a beauty spot, Stromboli Hill, in Clifton Road.

The Stewart report, a recent government-sponsored scientific inquiry, warned that the health risks of masts were still unknown and that care should be taken where about were they are put up.

Poole MP Robert Syms said: "The government issued circulars to say this report should be ignored.

"There may be no evidence but if we have a choice they should not be put near schools."

Mrs Brooke has already written to the Office of the deputy Prime Minister and said all mobile masts should be discussed at council. Those masts that are under 15 metres high can now be given permission by officers alone, without any discussion by planning committee members.

From Mast Network

Feb 18 2005

By Jessica Shaughnessy, Daily Post Staff


FIREFIGHTERS are campaigning for mobile phone masts at six stations in Merseyside to be removed because of health concerns.

Firefighters at Buckley Hill in Sefton claim senior officers ignored their fears and ordered them to train on a bell tower where a mast stands.

Now the FBU is lodging a formal complaint with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and is calling for the Buckley Hill mast, as well as masts at stations in Bromborough, Newton-Le-Willows, Wallasey, Kirkby, and Croxteth to be removed.

FBU branch secretary Les Skarratts said: "The firefighters were ordered to train on the bell tower, despite expressing concern.

"This is against the law. Under the Health and Safety Act, employers have to provide written assurance that something is safe if employees are concerned.

"The authority has not been able to do that.

"Firefighters at all six stations are unhappy their health is being put at risk. We want the masts to be taken down or assurance that they are safe."

Mr Skarratts said firefighters in Buckley Hill share concerns with local residents about a possible cancer cluster in the area.

Residents have called for the Department of Health to carry out an epidemiology survey in the area because they suspect there has been an unusually high rate of cancer and epilepsy diagnosis since the mast was built seven years ago.

Campaigner Eileen O'Connor, of Formby, is supporting Buckley Hill residents and the firefighters in their bid. She is chairwoman of national pressure group SCRAM and a trustee of the Radiation Research Group.

She said: "People should not go within three feet of these masts when they are operating, and should certainly not climb up them.

"Firefighters across America and Canada have successfully campaigned for a ban on siting masts on their stations."

The Daily Post understands that proprietors are paid up to £30,000 to have masts on their land.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service confirmed it is in talks with the union about the issue.

But the service said it cannot take the ones already built down because of contractual obligations to mobile phone companies.

A spokesman said: "We were originally approached by the mobile phone companies a number of years ago and payment was offered.

"There are six masts on our property that are under contract.

"If any credible evidence proves they are harmful to health, we will terminate contracts with the mast providers."

Last year the authority decided not to have any more masts on its property.

The authority said: "Upon expiry of their current arrangements, the Authority will require them (the mobile companies) to remove their equipment, or agree terms acceptable to the Authority for the continued installation of their equipment."

jessicashaughnessy@dailypost.co.uk

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15204117&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=firefighters-in-battle-to-get-rid-of-phone-masts-name_page.html


Informant: sylvie