By Kerry McQueeney

Businesses in a tower block in Croydon are vowing to physically stop a mobile phone company from putting a mast on top of the building next door amid fears it could damage their health.

The owner of Albany House and the businesses which rent office space there plan to physically block the path of a crane which the mobile phone company want to use to access the land and put up the transmitter.

Mobile phone company Hutchison 3G submitted plans last August to place a 6.5 metre transmitter, disguised as a flag pole, on top of 88-90 South End next door to Albany House.

Croydon Council says 160 letters were sent to addresses closest to the site and less than five objections were received. As a result the mast was approved at the end of August.

Anita Bishop, who owns Albany House, objected to the application. She said: "The company putting up the mast want access to my land to move a crane. There's no way I'm going to let them through. If this is the only way I can stop them from putting this mast up, so be it."

David Gregory, owner of Brickworks Marketing Communications, says he will cancel his tenancy and take his business elsewhere if the mast goes up.

He said: "I am not convinced these things are harmless. I won't put myself at risk and I won't put my staff at risk. I believe that transmitters are detrimental to your health, that your immune system is considerably weakened by them."

A spokesman for Hutchison 3G said: "We understand the concerns raised. However, there is an increasing demand for this kind of technology not least from businesses".

12:19pm today

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/features/display.var.572748.0.protestors_vow_to_block_phone_mast.php


From NewsNow

Feb 21 2005

By Emma Pinch, Birmingham Post

A couple who claim they were forced out of their home because a phone mast damaged their health will take their battle to have it pulled down to court today.

Agnes Ingvarsdottir and Eirikur Petursson said they had spent an estimated £300,000 on their legal battle plus a new home and offices because of the 3G mast erected near their Worcestershire house about 18 months ago.

They said they had been plagued with headaches since it was put up and, even though they no longer own the property, they wanted the telecommunications company Hutchison to remove the mast.

They even made sure details of the mast were in the sale contract of their former home, a 200-year-old Grade II listed house near Worcester, so its new owners would not sue them on health grounds.

The case is due before Birmingham District Registry at the city's county court complex today. "We probably will lose because we no longer live next to the mast," said Agnes. "But we have continued with the court battle because we felt so strongly about it. If it makes us sick, what about everybody else?"

Agnes and Eirikur, aged 60 and 62 respectively, moved into the house in 1999 and ran their business designing and making air filtering systems from there.

The mast, which looks like a flagpole, went up on the roof of the Little Sauce Factory Pub during the first week of August 2003, two doors away from their house.

"Within a day of it going up we began to suffer the most awful headaches and nausea," said Agnes. "Our eyes were deep red and swollen in the morning."

The pair petitioned against planning permission for the mast being granted by Worcester City Council and collected 300 signatures from neighbours.

In desperation, the couple rented new business premises and last February they managed to remortgage the house to buy a dilapidated home that was standing empty in nearby Malvern.

When the couple eventually sold the property last August, it was for £50,000 less than the market value. This, they claimed, was because of the proximity of the mast. They have taken the telecommunications company that owns the mast - Hutchison 3G or 3 as the network is now known - to court under Government planning guidance for telecommunications equipment.

They said their aim was not to win compensation, but to have the mast taken down.

A spokeswoman for Hutchison 3G said the case was "unique" because it was going to court, but said she was unable to comment further because of the ongoing legal proceedings.

From Mast Network

BY JULIE HARDING J.HARDING

11:00 - 21 February 2005

Campaigners are celebrating after planners rejected an application to put a mobile phone mast on community land in Totterdown. Mobile phone company Vodafone applied to the city council to install a mast close to the site of a proposed community building in Wells Road.

Councillors said the mast would jeopardise the project.

The company had previously put in an application for a mast in front of Victoria Park Baptist Church in the area - which was turned down - but won consent for another mast near to Victoria Park Infant and Junior School.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Mark Bailey (Windmill Hill) is delighted that the latest application was turned down.

Last month he called on mobile companies to accept their social responsibility about the siting of masts and to work with communities rather than against them.

He said: "While accepting the need for more masts if we are to take advantage of the new technologies, telephone companies must realise that communities are not going to stand by and allow these masts to be sited in sensitive locations.

"The last three planning applications for masts in Windmill Hill have been near to a school, in front of a church and adjacent to land earmarked for a new Community and Social Enterprise Centre.

"I do not understand why mobile companies choose sites that are obviously going to be controversial.

"The Totterdown and Neighbourhood Community Centre Group is working tremendously hard to secure funding for the new Community and Social Enterprise Centre.

"The group have had an outline bid for £500,000 accepted and are now in the process of attracting match funding. An architect has been appointed and a planning application is to be submitted next month.

"It is unacceptable that all of this hard work could have been undermined by this inconsiderate, ill-conceived mast application.

"I am thrilled that the planning department rejected the application on the grounds that it would 'predjudice the future development of the site'. There was no evidence that Vodafone had even considered other more appropriate sites for the mast prior to submitting this ill thought-out application.

"The residents of Windmill Hill took on the mobile phone giant and won.

"Common sense has prevailed, and I hope that this is the start of mobile phone companies working with communities rather than against them."

Vodafone said previously that 55 million handsets are in use in the UK and masts had to be located where people live, work and travel.

The company say that mobile phone masts are very low powered and that sharing masts with other providers only makes them larger and more visually intrusive.

http://fervoyin.notlong.com


From Mast Network

Disgruntled residents have vowed to oppose an application to build a mobile phone mast in their community.

Phone giant Vodafone wants to erect the 13.3 metre monopole on council-owned land next to the library in Ribbleton Avenue, Ribbleton, Preston.

Local people have drawn up petitions against the proposal and say a phone mast should not be put up in a residential area. The application was lodged with the city council on Wednesday February 2 and is expected to go before the planning committee on March 7. A total of 55 letters were sent out to residents and businesses – including a day nursery and district housing office within a 100-metre radius of the site.

Mum-of-two Julie Teeling, 36, of nearby Acer Grove, Ribbleton, said: "Why do they want to put a mobile phone mast in the middle of a deeply populated area? Why has it got to be so close to amenities children attend, like the library? "It's beyond comprehension. The health risks of mobile phone radiation exposure are not yet known. "I don't want to find out in 10 or 15 years time my children are suffering from illness. Most of the residents are very concerned. I'm urging everyone to write in letters of objection."

Neighbour Debbie Hunt, 38, said: "I have not had one person say to me they are in favour of it. Everyone uses mobile phones, but they think there's better places to put it than here.

"They are concerned about the children, vandalism and house prices. "My husband is furious. He thinks it will de-value the homes. Even though there's no proven health risk it's enough to frighten people away. He's asking will they compensate us?"

A spokesman for Vodafone said: "This is what we call a street-works. They are designed to be in communities. One of the things people aren't aware of is that these are very low powered devices. "They have to be in places where people live and work so that they can use their mobile phones there. "There are very stringent guidelines designed to protect the public. "They protect the public 24 hours a day whether they are one metre or 1,000 metres away from it. "We do understand people's concerns and take them seriously."

The closing date for representations is March 4.
e-mail: emilie.bradshaw@lep.co.uk
21 February 2005

From Mast Network

12:00 - 21 February 2005
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=137015&command=displayContent&sourceNode=136999&contentPK=11868370&moduleName=InternalSearch&keyword=DON'T%20PUT%20OUR%20GIRL%20IN%20DANGER&formname=sidebarsearch

The mother of an eight-year-old girl recovering from leukaemia fears a mobile phone mast will be installed near her daughter's school.

Jessica Ireland spent six months in hospital after being diagnosed with leukaemia nearly two years ago.

She is now in remission, but her parents, Cathy and Nick, are continually fearful for her health.

Now they are worried she could be put in danger if a newly submitted phone mast plan goes ahead on Heavitree Road.

Telecommunications giant Vodafone wants to erect the antenna close to the maternity unit of the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Wonford, and St Margaret's School, where Jessica is a pupil.

The school has written to the phone company strongly objecting to the mast proposal.

And the Echo has launched a petition against the antenna, which urges Vodafone to seek an alternative site far from hospitals and schools. It has already attracted hundreds of signatures.

And now Jessica's parents have added their voices to the growing chorus of concern.

Mrs Ireland, 30, said: "We needed to find a school where there were small class sizes, and somewhere near the hospital, in case she needed to be taken there in an emergency.

"She had missed a year of school, so we had to find her a school which provided the care and support that she desperately needed."

The couple, who live at Pocombe Bridge, near Ide, can barely afford the £2,000-a-term school fees, but scrape the money together in the belief they are doing the best for their daughter.

Vodafone is currently consulting local residents and institutions prior to submitting a notice of intention to Exeter City Council's planning department.

Jessica was diagnosed with acute Myeloid Leukaemia in 2003 and spent six months in hospital in Bristol and Exeter battling the disease.

Her mother, who runs Wheatley House Bed and Breakfast with husband Nick, said: "We are doing everything we can to protect her from possible causes of pollution. We have even got rid of our microwave.

"We don't know how she got the leukaemia.

"We have been told it was viral, and not genetic. She is now in remission and her oncology consultant is happy with her progress.

"She now goes for check-ups every six weeks.

"I know there is no concrete evidence that phone masts are bad for health, but I am dubious about it being in the city centre.

"I'm sure people at Vodafone would think differently if their children had suffered in the way Jessica has suffered."

Sign the online petition
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=178194&command=newPage

From Mast Network

A mobile telephone company has been thwarted in its efforts to put up a communications mast in Staffordshire.

Vodafone has been refused permission to erect the third generation (3G) mast on Liverpool Road in Kidsgrove.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council feared the structure would have a negative impact on the area. The town council also objected to the plans.

Vodafone says it has a duty to provide 3G coverage and will apply to put up the mast at the train station instead.

From Mast Network

A telecommunications company looks set to be thwarted in its efforts to put up a phone mast in a Shropshire town.

Thirty-six people have written to complain about Three's plan to erect the mast inside a flagpole on top of the telephone exchange in Bridgnorth.

Planning officers have now recommended that the company's application should be rejected on the basis the flagpole could spoil views of the town.

A final decision is expected to be made later in the month.

From Mast Network

Feb 21 2005

By Rhodri Phillips, The Journal


A mother is fighting plans to extend a mobile-phone mast next to her home.

Sarah Harle, correct of Forest Hall Road, Forest Hall, North Tyneside, said last night that adding three antennae to the mast on the roof of the Ritz bingo hall in her street would create an eyesore.

The 34-year-old single mother-of-one also said she was worried about potential health hazards - particularly as there are three schools and a nursery within a few hundred metres of the site.

She has raised a petition of more than 400 people who object to the mast being extended.

A mast with three antennae was installed on the Ritz building in August 2003, but phone company T-mobile has applied to North Tyneside Council to add another three.

It says the design would "not adversely impact upon the quality of its surroundings" and is necessary to provide phone coverage in the Forest Hall Road area.

Ms Harle, a kitchen assistant and play worker, said: "The first point is that it is an eyesore. It looks ugly and if there are three extra antennae added, it will be uglier.

"The second point is it could be damaging to people's health. There are families with children living close to the mobile-phone mast." She said Forest Hall, Ivy Road and St Mary's Primary Schools, and Forest Hall Day Nursery were all within a few hundred metres of the mast.

Benton ward Conservative councillor John Goodfellow has taken on Ms Harle's cause and has written to the council to voice his concern.

In his letter he says: "The three proposed antennae are not going to blend in and will be an eyesore on the skyline, creating the illusion of a run-down, uncared-for area."

He also argues the masts are not suitable in a densely populated area and he draws attention to the potential impact on the environment and the health of those living nearby.

Coun Goodfellow said yesterday: "I have taken this cause on because there are so many people in my ward who are objecting.

"There is the possibility that a mobile-phone mast can have polluting effects and could damage your health. That hasn't been proved either way yet. If it is damaging, there is the issue of schools in the streets nearby.

"There is also the issue that it is not in keeping with the surrounding area. This is a nice area and we want to keep it that way. This mast would have a detrimental impact. The feeling is running high in the area."

A planning meeting to decide whether the mast can be extended will be held on February 25.

No-one from North Tyneside Council or T-Mobile was available for comment last night.

From Mast Network