Frustration at mobile mast's legal loophole

COUNCIL chiefs are being urged to allow more public debate on mobile phone masts as opposition mounts to a controversial plan to site a station less than 100 metres from two schools.

Communications giant Telefonica 02 wants to build a 15-metres mast comprising three antennae on Staffordshire County Council-owned land next to the Beacon Hotel, at the junction of Tutbury Road and Harehedge Lane, Outwoods.

The company says the mast is needed to improve coverage for new generation 3G mobile phones, but the plans, currently being considered by East Staffordshire Borough Council, have provoked fierce opposition in the neighbourhood.

Outwoods Parish Council is opposing the plans, citing concerns over the potential health risks of masts and the fact that the proposed location is just 90 metres away from William Hutson Junior School and the Dove Campus of de Ferrers Specialist Technology College - the biggest school in Staffordshire.

Council chairman Michael Rodgers, who is also a borough councillor, told The Mail: "This mast would be unsightly - it is going to be twice the height of the Beacon Hotel - but our main concern is that it is so close to a school, where children will be walking past.

"Until we get clarification for definite that there are no health risks we shouldn't be allowing something that in 30 years' time we might be regretting."

Borough councillor for Tutbury and Outwoods Trevor Hathaway also declared his opposition to the plans at a meeting of the parish council.

"I have come out of the closet on this and written to the borough council to say that I object most strongly," he said.

Councillor Hathaway blasted rules which prevented mobile phone mast applications being 'called in' for discussion by councillors.

"It's totally unfair that we're not allowed to have a public debate on applications for phone masts where there is contention and people are opposed to it," he said.

"Lots of local councils have policies on phone masts and several say they should not be within 500 metres of a school."

An East Staffordshire Borough Council spokesman said such applications could not be 'called in' because of Government guidelines which stated masts 15 metres or lower did not need planning permission.

The spokesman said telecommunications companies were, however, required to give 'prior notification' of any such developments, allowing the council to block plans deemed unacceptable.

The authority says it has no plans to stop masts being erected near schools and the spokesman said: "We adhere to national standards which limit the radiation levels which can be emitted by masts. As long as the masts concerned are under or at those levels, they pose no danger to the public."

In plans submitted to the council, Telefonica 02 says objections to the mast on health grounds are 'unfounded', citing a World Health Organisation study which found exposure to permissible radiation levels was 'not likely to adversely affect human health'.

A decision on the application is expected 'within a week'.