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Mobile phone mast campaign

Homeowners and activists across the country are banding together in a bid to bring in new planning controls over companies seeking to erect mobile phone telephone masts. With much confusion and concern surrounding perennially conflicting reports over the danger of both the masts and the handsets themselves, 100 local groups have launched the campaign to prevent mobile phone companies from erecting the masts in areas that are close to residential areas and schools.

Easygoing planning laws in this country mean that masts under 15 metres do not require planning permission and objections to those over that height can only be made on amenity grounds. The group wants a change in the law to allow objections to new masts on health grounds and no limit on the height of the masts involved.

Over 20,000 new mobile phone masts are planned for this country in the next few years, as the big telecom companies put the infrastructure in place to cope with demand for the next generation of handheld devices.

And it is not just health fears that are plaguing those who live in the shadow of existing or planned masts. Worries over the long term health effects and the visual impact of the masts could see some properties slashed in value by as much as fifty percent. Andy Russell, 59, lives nearby to a planned mast site and said, "I spoke to an estate agent and he said it could half the value of my property which is terrifying."

Only last week, the Department of Health announced a £7m research programme on mobile phone safety, after a report by an independent committee could not confirm that mobile phones were absolutely safe.

The department also advised parents to discourage the use of mobile phones by children under 16, because the size of their heads and thickness of their skulls could mean that they are at greater risk from radiation.