- Thousands of highly controversial new mobile phone masts
are to be erected throughout England and Wales without democratic scrutiny,
after the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, last week reneged on a
promise to make them seek full planning permission.
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- His decision flies in the face of recommendations by
an official government inquiry, a parliamentary committee, and the country's
local authorities, - as well as an earlier ministerial statement - and
is bound to cause anger among scores of local campaigns against the masts.
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- Some 40,000 masts around Britain service more than 50
million mobile phones, and at least 8,000 more are due to be erected over
the next three years as the new 3G telecommunications system expands. They
are increasingly being resisted by local people, partly because they are
unsightly, but more often because of fears over their effects on health.
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- Evidence that radiation from mobile phones may affect
the brain is growing. Studies in Sweden suggest that it may result in young
people going senile in their forties and fifties, and four years ago an
official inquiry - led by the former government chief scientist Sir William
Stewart - concluded that "widespread use" of the phones by children
should be "discouraged".
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- Masts emit far less radiation than phones, causing much
less concern. But protesters retort that people living near them are exposed
to them, involuntarily, 24 hours a day.
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- Under extraordinarily favourable arrangements, phone
companies can erect masts up to 15m high in England and Wales without having
to get formal planning permission. They merely have to notify the local
council and are allowed to assume that they have the go-ahead if it has
not formally been refused within 56 days.
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- Overworked local planning departments struggle to deal
with the applications in time, and there are many cases where companies
have gone ahead and erected the masts despite the council's opposition,
because news of the refusal has reached them shortly after the deadline.
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- This loophole does not exist in Scotland and Northern
Ireland, where masts have to receive formal permission. In 2000, the Stewart
inquiry said: "The siting of all new base stations [masts] should
be subject to the normal planning process."
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- In its formal response two years later, the Government
said it was "minded to introduce a requirement for full planning permission
for all new telecommunications masts, as public consultation is an integral
part of the planning process".
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- This summer the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mobile
Phones urged the Government to implement the measure, which is also backed
by the Local Government Association, representing councils. Mr Prescott's
office let it be known that he was planning to introduce new measures before
the end of the year.
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- But in a parliamentary statement on the issue on Thursday,
one of his junior ministers, Keith Hill, failed to announce any change
in the procedures. He merely urged local authorities and phone companies
to discuss future plans for masts before any firm proposals were made.
That is already supposed to happen. However, the phone companies admit
they held these discussions with fewer than one in every six councils in
2002 - and had regular annual meetings with only 2 per cent of them.
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- 'We were gobsmacked when we saw the mast'
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- The first the villagers of Bardsey knew of T-Mobile's
plans to erect a mast on the top of a hill in the middle of rolling Yorkshire
countryside was a screwed-up public notice found in a hedge next to the
village pond.
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- But they still had plenty of time to object - which they
did - on the grounds that the mast was not needed. The villagers pointed
out most of them already owned T-Mobile phones due to the good reception.
They could also object on grounds of its visual impact and health concerns.
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- Leeds City Council agreed, and permission was refused.
But almost exactly two years ago the villagers were astonished to see a
lorry carrying the mast stuck in some mud.
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- "We were gobsmacked when we saw the mast next to
the village pond," says Chris Nunn (pictured above, with her children),
a GP who lives in the village. "How could T-Mobile do this without
planning permission?"
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- T-Mobile did so through a planning loophole. If no decision
has been given to a mast company within 56 days then permission is considered
granted.
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- Although Leeds made the decision within the time frame,
T-Mobile did not get the letter until some 24 hours after deadline. Leeds
issued an enforcement notice, but T-Mobile appealed to a planning inspector
who ruled on its behalf. The villagers are now taking the case to the Court
of Appeal.
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- "T-Mobile wanted to plug a gap along the A58 - even
though you are not supposed to use your mobile while driving. The council
has been stuffed. The Government makes special rules for special people,"
says Ms Nunn.
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- A spokeswoman for T-Mobile said: "We did identify
a need to improve coverage. There are passengers who may be using phones,
or there [may] be a need to use a phone [in] emergencies. Planning law
is clear that notification must be made within 56 days."
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=592334
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