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Residents in Goatstown are objecting to a planned phone mast for the area that they say will be too close to a nearby crèche and primary school. Over 200 residents have signed a petition to object to a planning application by a mobile phone company to build the mast on top of a premises on Drummartin Road. Speaking to Southside People, John Connellan, a spokesman for the residents, outlined their fears and said they would stage a demonstration on site later this week. “This is a fairly substantial mast development in a highly residential area,” Mr Connellan. “There is a crèche that can be no more than 100 metres from the planned mast, while Mount Anvil Primary School is only 250 to 300 metres away. “With this in mind we feel that the mast could pose a serious threat to the local community and should not be allowed to go ahead as planned.” Mr Connellan said that what most concerned him was an apparent lack of consultation between the mobile phone company and the residents.

“We feel that this should have been a minimum requirement,” he added. “I don’t see why the mast couldn’t have been planned for a more suitable site such as the nearby industrial estate. “At least if the mast was developed at the industrial estate, people there would not be exposed to it as much as in our residential area. At the industrial estate people would be exposed to the mast for a maximum of 10 hours a day whereas we will be exposed to it 24/seven.” Cllr Gearoid O’Keefe (Ind) said that he would also object to the mast, pointing out that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council adopted a policy at its July meeting that such installations should be at least 600 metres from residents or schools. Meanwhile, residents in Dalkey who successfully campaigned against a mast on the local Garda station have succeeded in getting an undertaking from the Minister at the Office of Public Works that further work has been halted. Minister Tom Parlon (PD) met with representatives from the Dalkey Community Against Radiation, local residents and councillors to discuss the contentious issue. He promised that the work would not go ahead until the findings of an interdepartmental report on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation are published. Under an agreement between telecoms companies and the Office of Public Works (OPW) the erection of mobile phone masts on Garda stations is exempt from the planning process. Residents were supported in their action by community groups in Shankill, who are also opposing plans to extend a mast over the Garda station in their suburb. Three protest marches have already been held against the work, with crowd numbers estimated as high as 2,000.

http://www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1493&Itemid=49

By Nic Brunetti

Victory: From left, Jessica Reynolds, 16, Alex Reynolds, Organiser David Reynolds, Liz Jones, Alexander Jones, seven, Patrick Reynolds, seven, Alice Jones, four, Kate Reynolds, 11 with the mast behind

RESIDENTS who stood to lose £30,000 in a bitter battle over a phone mast outside their homes are celebrating after winning their two year battle.

T-Mobile has told residents it will be taking down the phone mast in Wycombe Road, Marlow, to the delight of 140 objectors, including Great Marlow School and councillors who were against it on health grounds. Residents even pulled £18,000 together to take the case to the High Court after the mast was originally approved by Wycombe District Council in October last year.

The decision was quashed by a consent order last year after legal arguments said the council had not consulted the school and even some of the grid references for alternative sites were wrong in T-Mobile's application. And following a recent rejection of a full planning application and appeal, T-Mobile is set to take the mast down today.

David Reynolds, 47, who headed the fight alongside wife, Alex, said: "We stood to lose around £30,000 if we lost the legal case because we would have had to pay the council's and T-Mobile's costs. I am delighted. It is a shame that it was put up in the first place. It took over a great deal of our lives."

Mr Reynolds, a father-of-three, said his family would have moved away had the mast remained. It is only 17 metres from his house and he says the health risks posed to children are still largely unknown.

Around £12,000 has been recovered from the case since lawyers quashed the original council decision.

Liz Jones, 34, a mother-of-two, had just moved into Wycombe Road in 2004 when she heard the mast was set to go up. She said: "After two years I never thought I would see the day. I'm looking forward to being able to come out of my house without seeing the mast there. They have to go somewhere but not in residential areas."

Mr Reynolds, an osteopath, called for all phone masts to now go through full planning applications instead of being dealt with under delegated powers.

He said residents were originally promised that the mast would be decided by the council's development control committee only for it to receive prior approval.

However, he praised the council's case officer who dealt with the recent application where it was rejected.

Mr Reynolds only chose to fight the mast after reading council public documents on the original decision. He said: "If I hadn't gone in and looked at this we would have been none the wiser."

Council spokesman Becky Wotherspoon said: "We are pleased to hear that the appeal by T-Mobile has been overturned and will be contacting them about the removal of the mast from this site."

T-Mobile were unavailable for comment as we went to press.

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.thisisbucks.co.uk/display.var.867088.0.residents_win_mast_battle.php

Mark Branagan

When contractors arrived to put mobile phone mast equipment on top of a church where protesters believe bats are nesting, leading objector Audrey Booth sat down in front of the lorry and told them: "Thou shalt not."

Convinced the engineers had not got the proper paper-work from English Nature to begin work, she refused to budge from the driveway of the United Reformed Church in Chapel Hill, Clayton West, Huddersfield.

Her lone stand on Saturday morning soon attracted a turnout of neighbours and local councillors, concerned about the possible health impact of the equipment being mounted on the three-storey building's chimney. When it became clear Mrs Booth, 55, of Church Lane, was not going to make way for the engineers' vehicles after a 90-minute stand off – and that a TV crew was on the way – the men left.

Defending her actions yesterday, Mrs Booth said: "I spoke to English Nature, who said I should ensure that the law was not being broken if I thought the bat colony from the church was in danger and to check if they had got the necessary permissions to work near the roost.

"They started up the lorry and began to unload the aerials so I plonked myself down. I have been here 30 years and seen the bats every summer. They flit about in the garden and I enjoy seeing them."

She believed the colony was established in the church, but had been unable to find it. However, the Rev Nick Percival, whose ministry includes the church, said it was the first he had heard of any bats nesting there and Mrs Booth had been tres-passing on church property.

He added: "There used to be some bats in the church house where the minister lived but I have spoken to people who have been here all their lives and they do not know of any bats in the church."

A number of the objectors have claimed the church did not consult residents about installing the equipment.

But Mr Percival said the church held an open meeting last October to which the protesters came. He said the phone company had contacted Kirklees Council about planning consent but had been advised it was not needed because the masts fell within permitted development.

It was not unusual for churches to provide space for mobile phone equipment and any income would be spent improving access to the building for the community, he said.

But bats or no bats, Mrs Booth's protest underlined householders' fears about having the equipment close to family homes. Neighbour Robert Leach, who took part in the protest, said he did not want his 19-month-old son and pregnant wife living near the aerials and dishes.

He added: "No one wants it there apart from the church who will get money for it and the phone company who want to put up a mast, which will also be an eyesore."

Kirklees local councillor Jim Dodds said he would contact the authority today about some planning concerns raised by the residents. He said the situation regarding the possible bat protection issues also needed to be clarified via English Nature.

No one from the phone company, Hutchinson 3G, was available to comment.

mark.branagan@ypn.co.uk

07 August 2006

All rights reserved © 2006 Johnston Press Digital Publishing.

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1677811

03 August 2006

ANGER: Local community oppose the plans.

RESIDENTS are baffled after a phone mast proposal, rejected twice by council chiefs, was given the go-ahead by the government.

The Planning Inspectorate's decision to give T-Mobile the thumbs-up to build a 3-G mast at the bottom of Oxleas Meadows, Rochester Way, Eltham, on July 19 has caused uproar among residents.

An application for the mast was first rejected in May last year, before a second was rejected in September and residents are up in arms at the latest decision.

Resident Chris Rusher said: "It is shocking that not just our objections but also Greenwich council's decisions seem to have been completely ignored."

Fellow resident Sue Putnam added: "The proposed site is very close to residential homes and the alternative sites we suggested were dismissed out of hand."

Eltham North ward councillor, Spencer Drury branded the decision 'disgraceful'. He said: "The application was turned down twice by Greenwich Council who thought it was inappropriate.

"So T-Mobile appealed to the Government's planning inspector who overturned the decision without even bothering to talk to residents.

"This is being built at the bottom of open, green, beautiful land and it will undoubtedly spoil it."

The Inspectorate's office said it could not comment on the decision, because an appeal could be launched.

However, in his report, inspector Jonathan Bore said installing the mast would have 'no significant' affect on Oxleas Meadows or Woods or on residents' health.

He also said the equipment conforms to guideline levels for public exposure to radiation.

Eltham MP, Clive Efford has written to the Planning Inspectorate to express his anger at the decision and has asked T-Mobile for a meeting at the site.

The MP has suggested moving the mast a few hundred metres to the east. He said: "Moving the mast eastwards will mean that it would be lost in the trees and be less obtrusive."

emma.durdle@archant.co.uk

Copyright © 2006 Archant Regional. All rights reserved.

http://tinyurl.com/jub4t

PROPOSED LAW N° 2491 Related to the reduction of public health risks from mobile phone installations and apparatus
http://www.sauvonsleon.fr/pdf/NATIONAL_ASSEMBLY_FRANCE_PROPOSED_LAW___mobile_phone_installations.pdf

FRENCH CONSTITUTION
The Charter of the Environment
http://www.next-up.org/pdf/The_Charter_of_the_Environment_France.pdf

Source: http://www.next-up.org/pages/nouvellesdumonde56bis.php

Saturday, August 05, 2006 01:45 IST

MUMBAI: A committee headed by the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has held that radiations from mobile phone base stations installed on top of buildings do not pose direct health hazards to humans.

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http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Cancer+Cluster
http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_science.html

The committee was appointed pursuant to a Bombay High Court (HC) order in a PIL on health hazards posed by cellular phone base stations on top of residential buildings, schools and hospitals.

The committee’s preliminary report, submitted to the HC on Thursday, said, “Over all there is not enough evidence to show direct health hazards of radiofrequency (RF) exposures from mobile phone base stations”.

The committee, headed Dr NK Ganguly, said radiofrequency from mobile base stations were less than those emitted from radio, FM radio and television transmissions.

But, as a precautionary measure, it had recommended the adoption of guidelines laid by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) for limiting electro-magnetic field (EMF) exposure till further research data was available on the issue.

The PIL filed by residents of Jolly Maker Apartments (No 2), Cuffe Parade, quoted studies listing the harmful effects of radiations like genetic defects, cancer, alzheimer, fatigue and irritability.

The petition, which named Airtel, Orange, BPL and MTNL as respondents, sought a ban on the installation of such stations in residential areas, near schools and hospitals.

The committee, noting that the strength of radiofrequency fields in front of the antennae varies with distance, quoted three international human studies pertaining to radiations from base stations and said there were no quantitative parameters related to health hazards from such radiations.

The HC had in December 2005 ordered the constitution of the committee observing that even children now use mobile phones and in a state of cut-throat competition between cellular service providers, the risk to public health and safety cannot be brushed aside. The PIL will be heard by the HC on August 16.

COPYRIGHT © 2006 DILIGENT MEDIA CORPORATION LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1045498

The Corkman - Cork, Ireland ...

“Mobile phone masts are the biggest biological experiment ever commissioned on human beings ... O’Donovan who is also PRO for the Fermoy anti-mast group echoed ...

http://www.unison.ie/corkman/stories.php3?ca=38&si=1664969&issue_id=14456

AN application for a phone mast in West Watford has prompted opposition from residents.

T-Mobile is proposing to install one on the roof of Rembrandt House in Whippendell Road, directly opposite the home of Dr Claire Scott and David Scott.

The couple, who live in Oakhurst Place, say the mast will be unsightly, and suggest T-Mobile shares the Vodaphone antenna already on Rembrandt House, or one of the other installations in the area instead.

They also suggest that masts could be concealed in the roof of the building, as the T-Mobile installation at the Shell garage, in Rickmansworth Road, appears to have been.

They also raised concerns about the mast's impact on health.

Chairman of the council's planning committee, Councillor Alan Burtenshaw said the installation of the mast could be blocked on aesthetic grounds, if it was thought to be visually intrusive.

He said however, the council had lost a planning appeal after opposing a mast on health grounds, because there is no proof they are detrimental to people's health.

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

He said: "The situation is that, whereas most people like being able to use mobile phones, they don't like the masts that go with them."

He said building owners can decide not to have masts on their property, just as the council has decided not to have any on the Town Hall, because it is a locally listed building.

The planning application is expected to come before the council's planning committee in September.

Readers interested in the location of mobile phone masts can visit www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk, to see where local masts are.

T-Mobile were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

© Copyright 2001-2006 Newsquest Media Group

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.864232.0.residents_unhappy_with_phone_mast_plan.php