BY KERRA MADDERN
Express and Echo Devon
12:00 - 15 July 2005

Nearly 500 people have signed a petition against the building of a phone mast near their homes. As previously reported in the Echo, Hutchinson 3G want to build the 12-metre-high mast in Whipton, on the junction of Leypark Road and Hill Barton Road.

There is widespread opposition to the development because, as well as being near thousands of homes, the mast is near three schools, a children's home and a children's centre.

In addition, the new St Luke's High School, being built beside Hill Barton Road, will be a few metres away from the mast.

Many parents living in the area are worried about having a mobile phone mast near their homes. Catherine Hill, Parent Forum co-ordinator for Sure Start, which provides services for children in the Whipton area, said: "I am opposed to the mast because it is a worry, and so are parents. I know lots have signed the petition.

"There are already quite a lot of masts in Whipton. I think parents are just worried about the lack of information on how they affect health."

Laurence Davey, one of the founders of Whipton Against Masts (WAM), said opposition to the mast was spreading.

"Lots of local shops and businesses have displayed our petitions and we have now collected 487 signatures from residents opposing the mast," he said.

"More than 318 residents have written letters of objection to the council too".

Mr Davey will speak out on behalf of residents at a council planning meeting on July 25.

Peter Edwards, councillor for Whipton, also said he would argue against the mast at the same committee meeting.

Hutchinson 3G have meanwhile released more details about the mast. How much of its 20-watt output would be directed towards homes and schools would depend on the alignment of its three antennae. One would face towards Whipton, one towards Heavitree and the third in the direction of Sowton Industrial Estate and the Met Office.

Mike Dobson, community affairs manager for Hutchinson 3G, said: "We have to be as close to residential areas as possible so we can give the best possible coverage. We had considered the Texaco garage in Honiton Road, but the owner refused.

"We also considered Rennes House, but Exeter City Council advised us they didn't want us to put it there.

"As a company, we try to put masts on existing structures to minimise the impact."

The mast would be built on Highways Agency-owned land. This means the county council will be informed of Hutchinson 3G's plans to built the mast if Exeter City Council grants them planning permission.

Jul 15 2005
by Charles Watts
Maidenhead Express

AN action group is calling for a major shake-up in how mobile phone mast applications are submitted, to bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe.

Mast Free Maidenhead was set up by Kobus Bensch after he successfully fought a battle with telecommunications giant Vodafone who planned to build a mast 20 metres from his house on Marlborough Road, Maidenhead.

The group, which has its own website, aims to fight applications which are submitted to put phone masts in highly populated parts of the town.

Speaking to the Express, Mr Bensch, said: "I would like to see the number of mobile companies limited in the UK to about two or three, like it is in other parts of Europe. "The Government needs to take some responsibility and start caring for the voters."

Mr Bensch was speaking the week after Maidenhead council-lors discussed three mast applications at a development control committee meeting in Hurley Village Hall.

The applications at Boyn Valley Road, Boyn Hill Road and All Saints Avenue have added to Mr Bensch's frustrations.

He said: "It's a never-ending story, we just get a constant flow of about two or three applications a week. "And until the Government decides that this is something that affects everyone, it is going to continue."

Mr Bensch, who lives with his wife Antoinette and their two daughters Amy and Charlotte, has been pleased with the numbers of people getting in touch with Mast Free Maidenhead.

He said: "We have had quite a few people who have asked for help and we get a lot who visit the website to add things onto the forum such as what's been going on in Parliament."

* Link http://www.mastfreemaidenhead.co.uk

By Mark Andrews The Chronicle West Midlands
Jul 15, 2005, 08:15

Plans to build a mobile phone mast next to a Stourbridge old people's home and near two schools in the town have sparked outrage from people living in the area.

Around 250 people have now signed a petition opposing the plans by mobile phone giant Orange to build a 39ft mast on the corner of Grange Road and Prescott Road in Pedmore.

Tony Lloyd, who lives directly opposite the site in Wollescote Road, said he was amazed the site was even being considered.

He said the mast was just 74ft from the nearest house, and was right next to an old people's home.

"The people living in the home are really worried, many of them are in their 80s and 90s," said Mr Lloyd.

"I have been to see the warden at the home, and they really feel strongly about it."

Mr Lloyd said the governors of Ham Dingle Primary School and The Grange School, both within a mile of the site were also concerned.

He said there were many children in the area, and parents were worried about the possible effects on health.

"It is surrounded on four sides by residential property," said Mr Lloyd.

"I can understand why they need to put it in, but I can't see why they couldn't have come up with a better site than this.

"If it was a small residential area surrounded by greenery I could understand, but there are so many homes around here."

Mr Lloyd said no explanation had been given as to why a nearby industrial site could not have been used instead.

The Northern Echo 14.07.05

PEOPLE living in Cockerton Green, Darlington, were furious after plans to erect a mobile phone in the area were approved yesterday.

The proposal, by mobile phone company Vodafone, to erect a 14-metre high mast was approved by Darlington Borough Council's planning committee.

Resident Nancy Binks said she was speaking on behalf of many of her neighbours who objected to the plans due to health and safety issues, the negative impact it would have on the landscape and fears it would attract vandals.

She asked the committee: "Are there other sites available? Why not build it on the car park behind the shops? Other residents have asked why can't it be built near to where there is an existing mobile phone mast within the grounds of Cockerton Club?" After the committee announced its decision, Ms Binks said she was not surprised but said many residents would be furious.

Resident John Atkinson said: "We realise companies like this must come up against objections all the time and all of their applications cannot be refused because they have to make money.

"I just think a better location could have been found."

Councillor John Williams said: "As a council, we have Government targets to meet, and although I sympathise with the residents, our hands are tied.

"If we refuse the application we will almost certainly lose the appeal, which would follow and that would be at the expense of the taxpayers in Darlington. We simply cannot justify that."

The mast will be erected in the public highway, in front of the shops.

Gazette and Herald Wiltshire 14.07.05

CAMPAIGNERS against a mobile phone mast on a sports ground in Pewsey have been horrified to learn of a new application for an even taller transmitter.

They are pinning their hopes of defeating the mast plans on the parish council that owns the soccer ground between Ball Road and the High Street.

On Tuesday the parish council will be discussing whether it should allow its tenant, Pewsey Vale FC, to let O2 put up a mast at the soccer ground.

The soccer club stands to gain £80,000 over 20 years if it allows the mast. However, objectors say the football club is only a tenant and that the parish council should have the final say.

They also argue that covenants restricting the use of the land to sport and recreation imposed when the parish council acquired the land in 1949 from the former Pewsey Rural District Council still apply.

A previous planning application for an O2 mast on the ground was refused by Kennet District Council and is subject of an appeal.

This week campaigners learned O2 has submitted a new planning application for slightly taller mast.

Petitions have been circulating in Pewsey urging the parish council to stick by the covenants. Campaigners are urging villagers to attend Tuesday's parish council meeting, at 7.30pm in the Bouverie Hall, when O2's plan will be discussed.

LINDSEY SMITH
Tamworth Herald 14.07.05
10:30 - 14 July 2005

Mobile phone giant O2 says it is looking for an alternative location for the mast at the centre of an alleged health scare in Coleshill.

Concerns over possible negative effects the 11-year-old mast is having on the health of children at St Edward's RC Primary School in Packington Lane prompted urgent talks between O2 and the local education and planning authorities last week.

But parents, who have been withdrawing their children from the school on Fridays in protest against the mast, say they will keep up the pressure by maintaining their presence at the school gates until the mast is removed.

The organisations plan to meet again later this month, at which point a report from the Health Protection Agency - which was called in to investigate a health survey carried out at the school - will be available.

The search for land on which to re-site the mast has been welcomed by the county council and by officials from St Edward's and the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, who all want the mast removed.

In a further report chartered physicist Dr John C Walker alleges that a 'cancer cluster' affecting some houses has been discovered close to the town centre.

His report will also be presented to Government adviser Sir William Stewart who chaired the independent panel investigation into the possible effects of mobile phone masts in 2000.

Speaking about Dr Walker's report, Angela Johnson, community relations manager for O2, said: "There is no evidence that mobile phone masts, including the masts in Coleshill, cause illness.

Omega this statement is plain and simple not true. See further under: http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

"And there is no research to show any difference in the number of cancer sufferers in areas with mobile phone masts and those without.

"Although the figures in Dr Walker's report seem high, we need to wait until the Health Protection Agency have come up with their results before commenting further."

Lincolnshire Echo

10:30 - 14 July 2005

Parents have vowed to fight plans to put a mobile phone mast within 100 metres of a children's playing field.

O2 Ltd wants to install the mast outside Birchwood Shopping Centre, in Lincoln.

The plan means the mast would be within 100 metres of Birchwood Junior School, in Larchwood Crescent.

There is already a T Mobile mast at the back of Birchwood Shopping Centre and an Orange one at the opposite end of Birchwood Avenue, near its junction with Pershore Way.

But parents of Birchwood Junior School pupils say this latest mast is too close for comfort.

The planned mast is also close to a clutch of other schools, including Leslie Manser in Kingsdown Road, the Lancaster School and the Papermoon Day Nursery, both in Jasmin Road.

The Government says there are no proven health risks.

Omega this statement is plain and simple not true. See further under: http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

But parents say they fear that radiation emitted by such masts could lead to infertility or diseases like cancer.

Mum Sam Wakefield (39), of Caistor Road, has Daisy (nine) at Birchwood Junior and Emily (six) at the Lancaster.

"I just don't see the need for it," she said. "Why situate something like that there when you have got so many schools around?"

Her neighbour Angela Fleming agrees.

Mrs Fleming has Lauryn (six) at the Lancaster and Daniel (eight) at Birchwood Junior.

"I wouldn't want any more being put in when there are schools in the area. All you hear about is the health risks," she said.

Birchwood Junior headteacher Carol Smith was due to meet governors to discuss the plans last night. "The safety of our children is our primary concern," she said.

O2 originally applied to install the mast in October 2004. But Lincoln city councillors asked the company to look into the possibility of combining the mast with existing ones in the area.

O2 now says those masts would have to be made unreasonably tall to accommodate it.

It has submitted another plan to the city council to put the mast on the grass verge at the shopping centre.

O2 says its plans are in line with guidelines issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) - a body of independent scientific experts.

"O2 is committed to ensuring all new installations are ICNIRP compliant and on this basis there is no basis for this application to be refused on health and safety grounds," the application says.

Omega see "ICNIRP: A well packaged web of lies" under: http://omega.twoday.net/stories/752060/

O2 community liaison officer Jim Stevenson added: "It is a very low-level radio transmitter and receiver. There should be no health and safety fears over the emissions."

The application is the latest in a string of mast plans to cause controversy.

These include a row about a placing a mast on St Giles Church, in Lamb Gardens, Lincoln, and worries about extending a mast on the maternity unit at Lincoln County Hospital.

Jul 14 2005

Maghull & Aintree Star 14.07.05

GEORGE Howarth MP has called the planning system an unsuitable method of co-ordinating the siting of mobile phone masts.

In a House of Commons speech the Sefton East MP said: "The point is that visual and planning matters are secondary to what I perceive to be the public's main concern, which is uncertainty about public health.

" The Stewart Inquiry was methodical and thorough and it concluded that there is no certainty that there is no health problem. We should therefore proceed cautiously. The collection and analysis of scientific evidence should continue and be properly funded."

He is asking the Government to take a fresh look at the system, in the absence of clear information about heath effects.

Omega there are clear information about heath effects. See under: http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Jul 14, 2005, 14:46

Mobile phone masts should be subject to stricter planning laws to stop them being built outside schools and houses, the MP for Dudley North has said.

Ian Austin wants the government to bring in extra safeguards for towers planned near schools, homes and medical centres. He also wants fears over possible health concerns addressed.

Under current planning legislation they can only turned down by local councils if masts are considered to have a detrimental impact, either visually or if they affect an area economically by reducing property prices. Authorities cannot currently turn down applications on health grounds.

Mr Austin launched his campaign after hearing that mobile phone giants T-Mobile and Vodafone had submitted applications to build masts near to houses on Setton Road, in Sedgley, and opposite Bramford Primary School, on Tipton Road, in Dudley.

Mr Austin said he shared residents' concerns over the masts and that he wanted to find a solution to the problem that councils have with planning applications.

The MP said: "Residents in Woodsetton and at Milking Bank are very concerned about the proposed new masts.

"I am on their side, I understand their concerns and have received hundreds of responses to lend weight to my call for the council to sling these applications out.

"But I want to find a permanent solution to the problem too, which is why I'm campaigning in Parliament for stricter planning laws and extra safeguards near schools, homes and medical facilities."

* What do you think? Ring us on 01384 353 211 Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm

by Richard Lyons

Surrey Comet

A 73-year-old Cheam man may sell the house he has lived in all his life after plans to build a mobile phone mast within yards of the property were approved without hearing residents' views.

John Foster, of Fieldsend Road, is among dozens of locals outraged that a plan submitted by T-Mobile to build a 14ft mast close to the junction of St Dunstan's Hill and Lumley Road has been given the go ahead.

Residents said their concerns about the health risks and the devaluation of property have not been heard despite the fact a petition containing 87 signatures was sent to Sutton Council outlining their objections.

Mr Foster said: "Instead of the council working for us, they appear to be working against us they are going to just stick the mast up regardless.

"I have had the house valued and I am actually considering moving out my wife and I feel this is the last straw."

Fellow Fieldsend Road residents, Karen Grant-Bond, 31, and husband Lloyd Bond, 34, were appalled when they learnt a phone mast would be erected next to the house they only bought last August.

Among the concerns Mrs Grant-Bond said were overlooked by planners was the suggestion the antenna would be better sited on the other side of the road where there are much fewer houses.

Mrs Grant-Bond said: "We are not going to stop just because it has been granted. We are going to take this to a judicial review."

The residents of Fieldsend Road have been joined in their campaign to get the mast plans scrapped by MP for Sutton and Cheam, Paul Burstow.

Mr Burstow has backed a bill which would see planning guidelines for mobile phone masts overhauled in favour of tighter regulations.

As the law stands, masts under 15 metres can be installed without the need for full planning permission.

"It cannot be right that residents are subject to more stringent planning controls over their own porches and conservatories than mobile phone companies are over masts that affect the whole area," Mr Burstow said.

A council spokesman said there would be an opportunity for residents to present their petition at the Cheam and Worcester Park area committee on Wednesday, July 20.

3:06pm Thursday 14th July 2005