Phone-mast planning ignores fears

A row is breaking out over the red tape that councils say prevents them from taking public safety fears into account when deciding whether to give mobile phone masts the go-ahead.

Because there is currently no proof that such technology poses a health risk, councils can only refuse permission on the grounds of appearance or location.

But, with public concern growing over possible - though as yet unproven - links with cancer, councils are increasingly faced with tides of protests from residents whenever applications are made.

At a major conference on mobile phone safety in Harrow today, planners will argue that the existing law no longer reflects the strength of public opinion on the matter.

The calls are being led by Harrow council which has invited planning chiefs from 60 other local councils to the conference to discuss the problem.

They plan to form a new pressure group lobbying for tougher overall controls on where masts can be sited, claiming that the current law is biased in favour of mobile phone companies.

In a nationwide council survey organised by Harrow, nearly 90 per cent of local authorities said current mobile phone mast legislation "did not adequately deal with community concerns".

However, any tightening of the law will be opposed by the industry itself, which says it could needlessly delay the introduction-of the the new "third generation" phone networks now underway.

Harrow council's chief planning officer, Graham Jones, said: "Councils are playing pig-in-the-middle at the moment. On the one hand, we have the Government and the telecommunications industry wanting to promote mobile phone networks. But, on the other, residents are becoming increasingly concerned about having these things near their homes.

"We are not saying that their concerns are necessarily correct but we do think the planning system should be able to take public opinion into account properly."

Harrow also wants to end the current system, whereby phone masts under 15 metres in height - which account for 95 per cent of those erected in London - do not have to undergo the full planning procedure.

Unlike other planning applications, permission is automatically granted if a council does not issue a decision within eight weeks. Mr Jones said: "We don't see why mobile phone masts should have that privileged position."

The conference comes as a study into emissions from mobile phone masts in a road in east London, nicknamed " cancer street", casts doubt on possible dangers.

Redbridge council commissioned the £4,000 study by the National Radiological Protection Board following the revelation that five people - all of whom lived within 200metres of a building with 16 masts on it - had developed cancer in the past six years.

NRPB's Dr Michael Clark, who will speak at tomorrow's conference, said the study had found "nothing unusual".

He said: "Mast emissions tend to be tens of thousands of times below safety limits."

He pointed out that, if any, a far greater risk would be posed by holding a mobile phone handset directly to the head.

It is believed there are 20,000 mobile phone masts in the UK and that, at the present rate of growth, there will be 100,000 by 2005. In parts of London this will mean one mast every 100 yards.

'We don't want to be guinea pigs'