World-News

24 August 2006 | 21:18

OWNERS of a Suffolk cemetery have today defended proposals to allow a mobile telephone mast at the site.

Felixstowe Town Council have offered land at the town's Langley Avenue cemetery for a mast after a site at Grange Farm Avenue and Garden Field was rejected following protests by residents about health hazards.

Now a different set of residents have been angered as those living in the Langley Road area say they do not want the 15-metre high mast either.

But the town council said it is a suitable site because it is “some distance” from homes, and network provider O2 said the mast is needed to meet customer demand in the area.

The first planning application prompted a 54-signature petition because it was in the middle of a housing estate and large numbers of children pass by on their way to and from four schools.

Town clerk Susan Robinson said: “There were real concerns about siting this mast near to houses and so we have offered a site on the new cemetery extension in Langley Avenue, which is some distance from any homes.

“The town council will get a small income from the mast and this will be used to improve the facilities at the cemetery.”

Husband and wife Andy and Tracey Laflin, of Mill Lane, are among the newly concerned neighbours.

Mr Laflin said: “It's not just the visual side we disagree to. Obviously the last thing I want to see is a big 15metre mast stuck up near my house but we are also concerned about the health side of things and the inappropriateness of having a mobile phone mast in a cemetery of all places.

“I went to the cemetery and spoke to a few people who were attending graves and they were horrified. It's just not suitable.

“We think the residents deserve to be listened to on this one.”

James Stevenson, O2 spokesman, said: “We always try our best to ensure they fit in with the surrounding scene so they don't look too out of place or stand out too much.

“On the health side, we have got a lot of evidence from different scientific organisations from over the years and not one has found any health effects from phone antennas. We don't think there's a problem there.”

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Suffolk Coastal District Council said it hopes a planning decision will be made by September 22.

Do you think the cemetery is an appropriate place for the new mast? Do you think you know of a more appropriate site? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/hcc2w

By Jo Rostron

PEOPLE power has won the day in a Leeds suburb after plans for a 15-metre mobile phone mast were rejected by the city council.

Johanne Walters was one of a stream of opponents to the mast, fearing it could trigger health troubles for her two-year-old daughter, Emma, who has Down's syndrome.

T-Mobile was behind plans to site the mast on green belt land near Cookridge Hall Golf Club.

But Leeds City Council said the mast would be "highly prominent" and "intrusive."

Mrs Walters, of Hawthorne Gardens, told the YEP: "I first objected due to the fact something that tall would be an eyesore and spoil the lovely view.

"But the fact it is for T-Mobile is the worrying bit as my daughter has a heart condition, suffers with chest infections and is more likely to get leukaemia than other children and there is very little information about what the masts emit and the likely effects on your health.

"I would want T-Mobile to guarantee that my daughter would not suffer adverse health effects before I would want one anywhere near the house."
Jack and Phyllis Franks, of Kingsley Drive, have been in their home nearly 50 years and it is just yards from the site of the proposed mast.

Jack, 85, said: "We don't want any mast at all, but certainly not one with the power of this one – we would be slowly cooking. We have a human right to continue our lives with a sense of security about our health."

Neighbour Jackie Moore, 42, said: "It would not fit in at all. It was not particularly the radiation we were worried about, it would just be completely odd looking out at this thing towering above everything else."

T-Mobile submitted plans for a 15m high mast with six antennae and one dish in open countryside next to Cookridge Hall Golf Club.

Plans were to have a cypress tree style mast, allowing it to blend in with a group of eight metre-high deciduous trees which would have surrounded it.

Adam Frontal-Gay, owner of the club, said: "There is no financial gain to Cookridge Golf Club. The land is leased out to us. We don't want to offend residents. This mast will more than likely have to go somewhere in the vicinity."

Coun Barry Anderson (Con, Adel & Wharfedale) said: "The mast was set to be positioned in the green belt, in what is classified as an area of special landscape. Planners are 100 per cent correct to seek to protect landscapes like this."

A spokesman for T Mobile said: "We are looking at correspondence from the local authority, the grounds for refusal and what options are available to us."

The mast would be for third generation telecommunications to enhance broadband access for T-Mobile customers.

He added that the firm had to adhere to strict guidelines.

"The World Health Organisation produced a fact sheet in May saying that considering the very low exposure levels and research, results to date showed there is no convincing, significant evidence that the weak radio frequency signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects."

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

jo.rostron@ypn.co.uk

24 August 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1718257

PLAYGROUP'S fight against a mobile phone mast appears to have been lost, with the company admitting it is not concerned about residents' health fears.

In June, the Banbury Guardian reported that Drayton Playgroup could be forced to close as a result of O2's plans, with parents worried a nearby mast could increase the risk of cancer and leukaemia in their young children.

This week O2 communication manager Jim Stevenson said: "We took the decision last Wednesday and it is definitely going ahead now."

Commenting on parents' health fears, he added: "It's not something we really concern ourselves too much with. There have been a lot of studies done on mobile phone mast emmisions and they have found nothing at all that does any harm. But we will keep an eye on that."

Omega this is not true. See under:
http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Wissenschaft+zu+Mobilfunk/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

Parents, residents and Banbury MP Tony Baldry have all opposed the mast being so near a playgroup and Drayton School.

Playgroup supervisor and parent Diane Bates said she thought worried parents may start removing their children from the popular 20-year-old group.

"I'm worried about it; they shouldn't be putting our children at risk.

"02 claims it sent us a letter about the plans but we never received it and they never followed it up in any way.

"We will have to wait until September now to find out if people will remove their children or not."

She said she would probably cancel her own mobile contract with O2.

The 15metre-high mast is due to be put up within the next month and will be disguised as a telegraph pole and shared between O2 and Hutchison 3G.

It is being located on Oxfordshire County Council-owned land next to Trinity Close and is O2's second attempt to site a mast in the area, after it abandoned similar attempts last year at the junction of Stratford and Warwick Road following a public outcry.

Mr Stevenson said: "There were some alternative site options in Banbury but owners refused us permission to site the mast on their land.

"We have tried quite hard to make sure everyone knows what we are doing."

But the playgroup and residents believe the company's failure to communicate properly with local people could void its application.

They are now taking legal advice on whether they can still stop the mast being put up.

O2's planning application was approved by Cherwell District Council, but the authority can only object to masts of up to 15m high on siting and appearance and not on health grounds.

Protester Mary Jenvey said: "We do not want to give up when the mast has not been sited yet."

24 August 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=687&ArticleID=1717370

nlnews@archant.co.uk

23 August 2006

Father Pearson with the church tower in the background, where the phone mast will be installed Picture: Tony Gay

A HISTORIC church could be used to house a mobile phone mast if planners get their way.

Mobile network operator Vodaphone is hoping to get public backing to install a mast inside the tower of the Grade II* listed Church of All Hallows, in Church Lane, Tottenham.

Now the church's parochial church council is appealing for public feedback to the proposal from Vodaphone's agent QS4 Ltd, the approved installer of telecommunications equipment for the Church of England.

Father Roy Pearson, 71, pastor of the church, said his congregation had no objections.

He said: "We are all in support of it. We need a lot of work done on the church, and this will help enormously.

"It is a listed building and we have had no help from anywhere to keep it in good order, and we have just got to do it ourselves.

"The floor needs some attention, and the gutters all round the church are in a very bad state, and that is a major task and is urgent."

He added: "This is being done through the Archbishop's Council, and it's all done very, very carefully and takes account of everybody's feelings.

"All the schools have been consulted and they have not even replied, and this was well before the term ended. They have no concerns at all."

QS4 Ltd says that no part of the church, which has stood on the site in various forms since the 14th century, will be visually affected by the mast.

The eight-bell peal, now used just for weddings and other special occasions, will also be unaffected.

The building is rated by English Heritage as among the top six per cent of most important buildings in the country.

People are invited to send their comments, with reference number A06535, by September 14 to john.horsley@qs4.com or by post to John Horsley, QS4 Ltd, Cody Technology Park, Ively Road, Farnborough, Hants, GU14 0LX.

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/gj295

By Robert Fisk

Workmen barricade themselves in to put up the mobile phone mast BR5127

CAMPAIGNERS have lost their fight against a mobile phone giant installing a 8.5m-high mast.

They had staged protests at the site of a T-Mobile mast on the corner of St Paul's Wood Hill and Beddington Road, St Paul's Cray, since the company was granted permission by the Government's Planning Inspectorate in February.

The group, which is worried about the health implications of having a mast near homes, thought it had won when it managed to prevent work on the site during the second week of August by standing round the hole where the mast was supposed to be installed.

But workers for T-Mobile caught the protestors off-guard by returning to the site at 7am on August 16.

They had barricaded themselves in with two layers of security barriers and guards were standing watch by the time campaigners arrived.

Angry scenes erupted with protesters claiming T-Mobile had broken its agreement to not start work on the mast until the protest group had a meeting with Bromley police about the legalities of protesting.

Police were called after the group of about 15 campaigners tried to lift the barriers so they could crawl into the site and stand in the hole to stop work.

A security guard kept watch overnight and the work was completed on August 17.

Mother-of-two Claire Burton, 37, said: "Everything T-Mobile does is underhand.

"It does not go about things the right way."

The St Paul's Wood Hill resident added: "When we try and do things the right way it just does nothing."

Campaigner Sam Anderson, 35, said: "We're all pretty gutted.

"It is amazing T-Mobile goes to such an extent to have security guards there overnight and to double barricade themselves in.

"Surely this means nobody wants it."

The mother-of-three added: "It is typical. They have stabbed us in the back."

Mrs Anderson is focusing her attention on organising a mass march through central London to Downing Street.

Call 020 8302 4043 to get involved with the campaign.

A T-Mobile spokesman said: "We did not make any commitments about when work would restart and therefore did not break any agreements with the protesters.

"The security guards were there for health and safety reasons."

For video footage of campaigners trying to tear down the barricades, click here
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/videonews/index.var.81.0.0.php

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/localheadlines/display.var.889365.0.protesters_stabbed_in_the_back_by_company.php

BY Howard Williamson

MOBILE phone operators 02 have won planning permission to build a mast inside a church tower.

But public opposition might still stop it going up.

So many residents at Barwick-in-Elmet objected to the plan that the Rector of All Saints, the Rev Brunel James, felt impelled to call a public meeting.
Observers said opinion was divided over the mast and the Parochial Church Council will now take this into account when it makes a decision at the end of this month.

If it wants to proceed with the mast - which would perhaps give the church another £12,000 income a year - it will have to apply to the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.

Diocesan spokesman the Rev John Carter said: "The Diocese advisory committee would then consult the community and if it felt there was concern it could refer the matter to the Chancellor of the Diocese (who is a court judge) to make a decision.

"There are no aesthetic objections to this mast as it would be contained within the church tower, but some parents are concerned about the health implications.

"There were others at the public meeting who said everyone used mobile phones and they should stop being 'nimbys'. Opinion was divided 50/50.

Health

"Barwick has a very historic church which costs a lot to run and the rental income would be useful."

Harewood councillor Ann Castle, who represents Barwick on Leeds City Council, commented: "A plan for the mast was submitted earlier this summer and the usual notices were put up around the village. It attracted only two objections.

"I felt this level of opposition did not warrant the application going before a plans panel and the plan was duly approved by officers.

"A local resident who is concerned about mobile phone masts for health reasons then started a campaign to get the decision overturned.

"A number of people spoke from the floor at the public meeting. A few took the line that no one who uses a mobile phone has a right to complain about a mast but most people seemed to be worried about the health implications."

howard.williamson@ypn.co.uk

21 August 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1709912

I have just sent the following letter to the Sussex Argus letters page: letters@theargus.co.uk . Their editorial policy is (1) to try to publish letters with a common theme together (so if only one or two are sent, there is much LESS chance of publication), (2) that they generally be less than 200 words (mine is more but the chances of getting it published would be massively increased with 2 or more letters from other people) and (3) preference given to local senders (contact me for a local address ;-)) gary.kemp7_at_ntlworld.com

Any other contributions greatly appreciated. The Argus has a huge readership. If we can get a debate going in their letters pages, that's what the Editor wants.

Letter below.

Thanks

Gary
Brighton


The relentless proliferation of microwave wireless technology in Brighton really worries me.

The latest of thousands of independant scientific papers showing widespread health damage from this technology is analysed by Lloyd Morgan, a Director of the US Central Brain Tumor Registry (see http://www.powerwatch.org.uk ) ; a study of "the worst type of brain tumors: those collectively referred to as "brain cancer" (e.g., gliomas, astrocytomas, glioblastoma multiforme--AKA GBM--etc.)" by research team Hardell et al.

Omega see also under: "On the Hardell studies of phones and the comparison between their research and the Interphone studies"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2546167/

The study examined 905 cases of these brain tumors, ages 20 to 80, diagnosed between 1997 and 2003, with 2162 controls. All the teams' previous 12 studies had found increased risks from wireless (Mobile, Analog and DECT) phones.

He continues: "The survival statistics for these tumors are very grim (e.g., one year GBM survival is 29%) and the devastating effects, even if there is survival, can be heartbreaking including loss of physical, emotional and mental abilities"

The study found the risk increased by an average of 25% below 1000 hours of phone use, to 130, 270 and 490% for 2 - 3000 hours for DECT, Cell and Analog phones respectively, and by 20% (all types) for 1 - 5 years use, to 80% (DECT), 140% (Analog) and 180% (mobile) after 10 years.

Morgan states:"the most troubling aspect of the Hardell et al. study is that of the early latency times it is demonstrating with regards to cellphone exposure. It is well known that the time from exposure to a carcinogen to the diagnosis of a tumor takes decades (25 to 40 years), yet we are seeing an increased risk of brain cancer for as short as 1 to 5 years.."

"Could the implication be then, that what we are seeing is actually the tail of a 25 to year latency time distribution?"

I am reminded of the words of Dr Leif Salford, head of a major study into cell phone use in Sweden in the late 1990s, who said "Brain damage from intensive cell phone use is a probability rather than a possibility"

And with researchers worldwide warning particularly against cell phone use by under 16s, I see a very grim future for todays' children.

http://www.computerbase.de/news/internet/zugang_provider/2006/august/boeings_flugzeug-internet_bruchlandung/


Informant: Paul Günther

By Robert Fisk

Work under way on the mobile phone mast site BR5144

CAMPAIGNERS have lost their fight against a mobile phone giant and its controversial mast.

Workers for T-Mobile have almost finished putting the mast up on the corner of St Paul's Wood Hill and Beddington Road, St Paul's Cray.

Security guards kept watch at the site last night after angry scenes yesterday when anti-mast protestors - who have fought a six-month battle against the development - attempted to tear barricades down.

Workers arrived early this morning and installed the electronic equipment needed for the mast to work.

Campaigner Sam Anderson, 35, said: "We're all pretty gutted.

"It is just amazing that T-Mobile goes to such an extent to have security guards there overnight and to double barricade themselves in.

"Surely that means nobody wants it."

The mother-of-three is now focusing her attention on organising a mass march through central London to Downing Street.

She is currently waiting for a call from the Met Police to finalise a date for the protest which she hopes will take place as soon as the House of Commons meets after the summer recess.

Call Mrs Anderson on 020 8302 4043 to get involved with the campaign.

T-Mobile has been unavailable for comment since yesterday.

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.882505.0.workmen_back_on_phone_mast_site.php