Another mobile phone mast for Cashes Green

Last week the SNJ reported that local councillors are fighting plans for a second telephone mast in Cashes Green just metres away from an existing antenna. A 3G mast already stands in Cashes Green Road outside the Prince of Wales pub but plans have now been drawn up for a 15 metre T-Mobile mast on the other side of the road in front of Sunny Hill bungalows which house 37 elderly people.

Local councillor Karon Cross has started a petition against the mast after residents raised concerns. She is quoted as saying: "The feeling from residents is quite strong as the mast will be almost level with their front room living space. I have urged people to write to Stroud District Council because many people are happy to talk about it but not many will put it in writing. I find it quite a concern that this is going ahead without much consultation. Why does there have to be two opposite each other. It's a eyesore so instead of putting it in the middle of houses it should be hidden more."

Lynne Edmunds, Gloucestershire representative of the nationwide organisation Mast Sanity, was quoted saying: "I think it's ludicrous to site a mast for another mobile phone company so close to an existing one. I don't think there should be any masts in such a densely populated area as Cashes Green. The only preferable alternative is for mast sharing."

I rang both Karon and Lynne as I am also concerned by the placing of these masts seemingly without consultation with the community - the District Council has little room to manoeuvre as the mast is under the height needed to have to apply for planning permission. However there are actions they can take.

In the past I have had little success in raising such concerns with the District Council - I have spoken with various independent organisations who argue that perceived health risks can be taken into account when looking at masts in planning applications - in Manchester concerns re loss of sleep were used to refused a planning application - some people I have spoken with have been so concerned re masts that they note they can't sleep.

Several comments were left on the SNJ website - here is one view there re being a NIMBY and one re the health risks with some comments from me:

(i) "So if you object to phone masts confirm you do not own or use a mobile phone, else just admit you're a NIMBY." Well I have a mobile which I share with my partner and use for work - it would therefore be hypocritical to argue against all masts but there are several quick comments to make here...
- because of the way the government has tried to maximise dosh from the mobile phone companies we have ended up with several networks - in other countries there is often only one or two networks and far far fewer masts
- mast companies seem reluctant in cases like this to share existing masts
- government has ignored the research indicating health risks and refuses to adopt a precautionary approach in terms of siting masts

(ii) "T-Mobile are again misleading the public. The only research alleging these harmful masts are safe is that funded by the phone operators. The truth is that over 1000 independent studies, linking phone mast electro magnetic radiation with serious ill health including cancer, confirm that phone masts should not be sited within 350 metres of schools or housing. Numerous studies have proved that melatonin, the cancer fighting hormone, is suppressed by this pulsing radiation. That's why the cancer clusters continue to increase in the vicinity of phone masts. Phone operators dismiss such research, alleging that their own studies suggests no health risk. However recently the national press revealed that T-Mobile covered up the damaging results of their own research. The Ecolog Institute, a research organisation which examines the health effects of mobile phones, was commissioned by T-Mobile to investigate the possible health risks of mobile phone masts. The 2003 Ecolog report confirmed: [quote]'Given the results of the present epidemiological studies, it can be concluded that electromagnetic fields with frequencies in the mobile telecommunications range do play a role in the development of cancer. This is particularly notable for tumours of the central nervous system.'[/quote] So come on T-Mobile, we are not falling for your multi £million publicity machine rhetoric this time. The idea that unelected bodies (the mobile phone companies) have a right to expose people to the very real harm caused by phone mast electro magnetic radiation, amounts to enrolling the population in a giant biological experiment without their consent."

We need to adopt a precautionary principle re these masts. When I attended a mast conference in Dorset it was clear that much evidence was being ignored. We urgently need more research into them. We have been told in the past asbestos, DDT, Thalidomide and much more were safe and we've regretted it. Certainly we should not be putting up any mast near where people live and work. See more here and here.