editorial@hamhigh.co.uk

22 April 2005

PARENTS are right to be worried over mobile masts. There is enough evidence and advice against the safety of mobile masts which have been made public for all to be extremely concerned.

However, campaigners are misguided in using the "not in my own backyard" argument as a valid reason for fighting planning permission for the masts. Surly if the masts are a hazard, and sensible residents have reason to believe they are, then they ought not to be erected at all anywhere near households, schools or workplaces of any kind.

There is only one protest which would really work. Walk your talk. Give up your own mobile phones. Under no circumstances allow your children to use them.

Then, and only then, will protesters be persuasive in their argument.

My partner and I are so concerned about the danger of mobile phones and masts that we staunchly refuse to own a mobile phone and have succeeded in discouraging other family members from using them. We will join any protest in the fight against mobile masts but only alongside those who have refused or forsaken mobiles.

CELINE LA FRENIERE
Talacre Road, NW5

Apr 21 2005

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/tm_objectid=15427079%26method=full%26siteid=50142%26headline=new-move-in-mast-row-name_page.htm

By David Greenwood, Daily Post


COUNCILLORS are calling for an emergency communications mast at a town centre police station to be taken down because of health fears and complaints it is interfering with TV reception in hundreds of nearby homes.

Now, after a string of meetings, Holyhead Town Council is demanding action from North Wales Police Authority over the Tetra mast.

Last night, town clerk Cliff Everett said: "I have been instructed by the entire council to write to the authority because they, as owners of the police station, have the right to say what goes on the building.

"The council has discussed this issue three or four times now and feel something positive has to be done and the authority is the one which can act in this case."

The Holyhead mast appeared on the roof of the station late last year and almost immediately people noticed a marked deterioration in TV picture quality.

The mast is part of a nationwide police network system which is being set up by specialist company O 2 Air-wave for the Home Office.

A spokesman for O 2 Air-wave insisted the Holyhead mast met stringent planning and radio airwave regulations.

The Home Office said:

"Current police radio systems are obsolete and incompatible with each other.

"New digital technology will allow there to be complete coverage, clearer signals and extra features such as data as well as voice communication."

Apr 21 2005

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/thejournal/tm_objectid=15426866%26method=full%26siteid=50081%26headline=phone-mast-row-firm-pledges-talks-name_page.html

By Dave Black, The Journal

Mobile phone users will be cut off if Vodafone fails to replace its existing telecoms mast in a Northumberland village, it was claimed yesterday.

The firm promised to hold urgent talks with council chiefs in a bid to resolve the row over its plans to put up a 50ft temporary mast yards away from homes in Guide Post, near Ashington.

The company came under fire last weekend for threatening to invoke special emergency powers allowing it to install the mast behind the village working men's club without seeking approval from Wansbeck District Council or from local people. The tower is required as a replacement for Vodafone's mast in a nearby haulage yard, which it has been ordered by the landowner and a court to remove to make way for a new housing development.

There is already an Orange mobile phone mast behind the club and a number of villagers are horrified at the prospect of a second one being put up there.

The electricity supply to the existing mast was due to be disconnected on Monday but yesterday the company revealed that it was being allowed to use it until the end of this month. However, Vodafone says that at that point it will have to put up the temporary replacement under emergency powers or let local customers lose their mobile phone signals.

Spokeswoman Jane Frapwell said yesterday: "We have taken legal advice and feel we have a very strong case for erecting a temporary mast behind the working men's club. We have been able to delay losing the signal until the end of April but after that we would lose 2,000 voice calls a day in that area.

"We will be going back to the council to discuss the situation but we still feel there is a genuine emergency as we have done everything we can to find a replacement site. We hope to find a way of going forward."

Wansbeck Council says the emergency is of Vodafone's own making because it has known since November that its lease on the haulage yard site would not be renewed.

A council spokesman said: "We have said from the outset that we need to get around the table to talk about our concerns over the siting of this mast.

"However, we still remain firmly of the opinion that emergency powers should not be invoked in this instance, and that proper discussions need to take place so that the company can be made fully aware of the concerns of local people before we try to reach a satisfactory solution to this dilemma."

Apr 21 2005

By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Kirklees Council planners to refuse an application to install a mobile phone mast in Scholes.

Residents have objected to the proposal to build an 18ft mast on the Lee Mills site because of its close proximity to homes, a nursery and a public fishing dam.

Maggie Throup, the Tory parliamentary candidate for the Colne Valley, has also thrown her weight behind the campaign.

She said: "People don't realise that mobile phone masts don't have to go through the full planning process.

"At the moment it is all in favour of the developer and the views of local people are sidelined."

She called for a change in policy making it necessary for local councils to consult communities.

Today was the deadline for public objection.

Ms Throup added: "The location is in a hollow and houses look down onto it. It is a really odd place to put it."

Apr 21 2005

Surrey online

By Sarah Cooper


MEADVALE residents have turned to modern technology to highlight the impact a 10-metre mobile phone mast would have on their community.

T-Mobile wants to build the mast out-side The Ship pub, in Copse Road.

The project has sparked a backlash, and worried residents have now completed an artist's impression of how the mast would look - and are determined to stop it becoming a reality.

Most of them have small children and are concerned for their well-being.

There are also concerns over the number of elderly people living nearby and the devaluing potential of the mast on home prices.

Sharon Scotton, who is one of the main organisers of the Meadvale Against Masts campaign, and lives just metres from the proposed site, said: "I have three children. It's a great concern. One of my children has immune difficulties. It could put her at greater risk.

"It's going to make me angry and upset every time I look outside."

The group has produced draft objection letters to hand out in door-to-door calls to help people raise their concerns.

They also claim drawings produced by T-Mobile are misleading as they think the height of the mast is going to be more than is shown.

To show what they believe is the correct height they have taken a picture of a 10metre mast and imposed it onto a photo of the pub.

Fellow protester Nicola Mitchell, who also lives in Copse Road, has been told the value of her property could go down with the mast there.

She said: "I am absolutely outraged that such a large company can plonk something in the middle of a residential area without a thought for the community.

"I have two small children and I have a duty of care to them and my property is my main asset."

She added: "I am feeling sick with the worry."

Ruth Adam, who lives in Arbutus Close, said: "I feel that masts shouldn't be situated in residential areas while there is any doubt on the effect on people's health."

The mother-of-two added: "There is the most tremendous opposition. I am stunned by the opposition that I have come across.

"I don't think we're ever going to stop protesting against it."

A spokesman for T-Mobile said: "T-Mobile understands there sometimes can be concerns when locating base stations in communities.

"Based on more than 40 years of research, T-Mobile is confident that its base stations, operating within strict national and international guidelines, do not present a health risk to any member of the public.

"Property values are based upon a variety of market conditions and when buying a property the judgements people make are entirely personal, reflecting these many different factors."

North Tyneside Guardian

Councillors call over phone mast requests

COUNCILLORS are calling on their local MPs to back a Parliamentary bill which aims to increase the powers for refusing planning applications for phone masts.

Under current legislation, councils can only refuse phone masts based on their appearance despite concerns from residents about the potential health impacts.

But that could change as a private members' bill was recently introduced by Andrew Stunell MP in the House of Commons, aimed at giving local authorities greater powers in refusing a development without planning permission and allowing councils to have regard to health issues.

Now North Tyneside Council has agreed to call on the three local MPs to support the bill after a motion was unanimously backed at a full council meeting last week.

Coun David Ord said: "We're asking for greater powers to decide whether these things should be allowed. We're asking for our MPs to support this bill."

Lib Dem colleague Coun Graeme Brett said he was concerned about the number of planning applications which were rejected by the council after a democratic debate, and taken to an appeal where they were approved by someone hundreds of miles away, often without visiting the area.

Conservative councillor Ken Mewett said they were happy to support the motion and the parliamentary bill as it seemed sensible legislation, especially considering local residents' views on mobile phone masts.

And Labour leader Coun John Harrison said: "We support this in principle."

19 April 2005

Wednesday 20 April 2005

'No' to mast plan

Plans to site a mobile phone mast close to homes on a Bicester estate have been refused.

Mobile phone firm O2 wanted to install a 40ft mast beside Southwold Lane, opposite the Southwold estate and between the Banbury Road roundabout and the Caversfield/ Fringford turn.

Cherwell District Council's south area planning committee turned down the application on the grounds that it would be an eyesore and too close to homes.

O2 said it would appeal against the decision and it believed local people and planners had no objection to the application.

Chairman Catherine Fulljames said: "Generally the committee thought it was ugly and too close to houses."

But she pointed out the committee could only consider planning issues and not any alleged health risks.

Andy Bowne, a sales manager, of Juniper Gardens, Southwold, thought the mask was a health risk but was also concerned that not enough residents had been consulted.

He said: "I'm pleased and I think it's very unusual. If there is concern about health risks, the council has an obligation to residents."

Chris Partridge, chairman of Southwold Community Association, said he was delighted.

"Everyone on the committee was against it. We are all aware these masts have to go somewhere, but this was not the best place. It would have been a real eyesore."

Jim Stevenson, a spokesman for O2, said: "We are very disappointed. We did speak to local people and we thought we had their backing and the planning authority's."

PLANNERS deferred making a decision on whether a mobile phone mast should be built just 400 metres away from a primary school. Parents of children at Bourne Abbey Primary School fear radiation from the mast could affect the health of pupils.

South Kesteven District Council's development control committee said it wanted more information before it could accept or reject the 20-metre high mast, which will have three antennae and three dishes. Planning officers had recommended the application for approval in their report to the committee.

Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd wants to build the mast at the former DW Green site, off Pinfold Road.

Parents only found out about the plans on the last day of the Spring term, while the Robert Manning Technology College, which is also near the proposed site, was not aware of the plans. Eamon Duff (48), of Gladstone Street, Bourne, has a five-year-old daughter, Niamh, at the school. He said: "I don't think mobile phone masts should ever be put near a school. "There are plenty of other places they could go."

Susie Norris (39), of Stanley Street, Bourne, whose seven-year-old son Kyle attends the school, said she was extremely concerned by the health issues surrounding the masts. She said: "I don't want anything like this near our schools. It should be placed out in the middle of the Fens."

Mast Sanity, a campaign group for the sensible positioning of phone masts, says a mast should be at least 600m from a school and has urged all those concerned to lobby their councillors. Co-ordinator Lynne Edwards said: "Radiation is emitted in several directions. In addition to the main beam, which has the most powerful level of radiation, the masts give off several side beams."

Radiation has been shown to increase the risk of children developing cancer, leukaemia and growths in later life and councillors were faced with a number of objections from parents when they considered the application.

Bourne Town Council also expressed its concern about the mast's close proximity to the school field, as did a resident of Arnhem Way. The application has been made because of public demand for phone coverage for the eastern side of Bourne and the A151.

Verity Stanford, of 3 Mobile, said a base station was needed in the area for that demand to be met and reassured concerned parents and residents. She said: "Radio waves only travel short distances, so we need base stations close to where people want coverage. "The industrial unit is the best location for this area. "It will be to the west of the main industrial site, within a large concrete parking area and away from any sensitive land use."

The mast would be 200m from the nearest homes and be partially screened by a number of 10m high cyprus trees, which line Pinfold Road.

The committee will look at the matter again at its May meeting.

20 April 2005

http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=829&ArticleID=1002324

Please sign this online petition to raise awareness of mast and TETRA problems across the UK. Let your MP, or any other body or company know about this website or generally try to raise the profile of this issue in any way you can (legally).

Please do it for all who suffer and for our children's future.

Sandi


http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/national-mast-petition/