School's fight against phone mast plan
Jan 31 2007
Report by Eileen O'Brien
PARENTS, governors and teachers at Ursuline College fear plans to build a 15 metre mobile phone mast just yards from school playing fields could put kids' lives at risk.
Head teacher Sister Alice Montgomery is fighting plans by Hutchinson 3G to put a mast outside the school on Canterbury Road, Westgate.
Sister Alice, 55, dubbed it 'madness', adding: "Experts simply do not know enough about the technology. It has the potential to harm young people. We have 1,000 children here and King Ethelbert school next door also has 1,000 walking past the site every day. If the worst happens, trying to prove someone's health is linked to a mast is virtually impossible.
"This is a school that spearheads sports and healthy living across Thanet. The proposal is totally inappropriate."
She has written to all 600 families at the school asking them to join her protest to Thanet council. Ursuline does not ban mobile phones but Sister Alice draws the line at a mast on her doorstep.
A spokesman for Harlequin, planning agents for Hutchinson 3G, said: "There are already four other masts in the immediate vicinity, but people don't notice them. Coverage for 3G is limited to a few hundred meters and placing the mast in a field wouldn't provide coverage where people are."
© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Southern Limited 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yqcsve
Report by Eileen O'Brien
PARENTS, governors and teachers at Ursuline College fear plans to build a 15 metre mobile phone mast just yards from school playing fields could put kids' lives at risk.
Head teacher Sister Alice Montgomery is fighting plans by Hutchinson 3G to put a mast outside the school on Canterbury Road, Westgate.
Sister Alice, 55, dubbed it 'madness', adding: "Experts simply do not know enough about the technology. It has the potential to harm young people. We have 1,000 children here and King Ethelbert school next door also has 1,000 walking past the site every day. If the worst happens, trying to prove someone's health is linked to a mast is virtually impossible.
"This is a school that spearheads sports and healthy living across Thanet. The proposal is totally inappropriate."
She has written to all 600 families at the school asking them to join her protest to Thanet council. Ursuline does not ban mobile phones but Sister Alice draws the line at a mast on her doorstep.
A spokesman for Harlequin, planning agents for Hutchinson 3G, said: "There are already four other masts in the immediate vicinity, but people don't notice them. Coverage for 3G is limited to a few hundred meters and placing the mast in a field wouldn't provide coverage where people are."
© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Southern Limited 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yqcsve
rudkla - 31. Jan, 18:34
