Mast legislation 'an abuse of law'

A PHONE company is to erect a mast less than 15 yards from the front door of a man whose doctors have warned him to avoid mobiles.

Reg Hill, who lives directly opposite the planned site of a Vodafone mast in Stoke, fears the radio waves will affect him, his wife Denise and their two children. Mr Hill's son Graham died of a brain tumour in October 2000. Mr Hill says that specialists at Derriford warned him to avoid mobile phones.

"It's really getting me down," Mr Hill said. "I just can't let it happen but I don't know what to do now."

Angry Stoke residents have launched a campaign to stop Vodafone putting up the mast at the corner of Masterman Road and Keppel Place.

With the support of their local Conservative councillor, they are campaigning to change Government policy, which forces councils to give planning permission automatically for masts under 15 metres tall.

Stoke residents appealed earlier this year when Vodafone said it wanted to put up the mast.

Stoke councillor David Reynolds also objected, but says he heard nothing from Vodafone.

Plymouth City Council was forced to approve the installation because of Government legislation.

Campaign organiser David Tuthill said many people were unhappy.

"It appears that these people are given special privilege and can bypass the planning authority which the rest of us must abide by. It is a total abuse of the law that we are all expected to respect."

He said that the only warning was a small planning notice taped to a nearby lamppost which he did not see until it was almost too late to object.

In a test case last year the city council objected to a mast on a children's nursery in Old Laira Road, but the local government inspector stepped in and overturned the ruling – leaving the city council to pick up the bill.

Nationally there are now more than 50,000 mobile phone masts and that number is expected to rise by 8,000 a year for the next three years.

An expert committee chaired by Sir William Stewart in 2000 found no evidence for handsets or masts having negative health effects, but suggested that all masts, regardless of height, should be subject to full planning permission.

The group Mast Sanity, which campaigns for the safe siting of mobile phone masts, claims that cancer clusters, clusters of ill-health, depression and even suicide have been found close to masts and other wireless sources of radiation.

Vodafone said in a statement: "The proposed Vodafone radio base station is required to improve the 3G coverage to our customers in the area. This will provide our customers with access to mobile broadband with speeds similar to those offered by fixed line broadband.

"All of our base stations are designed, built and operated in accordance with stringent international guidelines. Typical public exposures from our base stations will be many hundreds, if not thousands, of times below these guidelines. The World Health Organisation has concluded that there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects."

Dr Alison Mackenzie, consultant in public health for NHS Plymouth said: "The balance of current research evidence suggests that exposures below levels set out in international guidelines do not cause health problems for the general population. However, we recommend a precautionary approach to the use of mobile phones until more research findings become available."