More masts for council offices

FUTURE phone masts in Stoke-on-Trent should be installed on council property and away from schools to limit potential health risks, according to a council committee.

Members of Stoke-on-Trent City Council's health overview and scrutiny committee have spent the last year assessing claims that emissions of radiation from mobile phone equipment pose a health hazard.

Although the group's report fails to uncover any direct evidence linking the masts to cancers or other illnesses, the panel has urged the council to take more precautions when handling planning applications.

The report said: "The task group, given the evidence-based information it has received, concluded that there is no general proven risk to health, but accepts that a precautionary approach to the siting of base stations should be taken until research tells us that they are safe or unsafe.

"The city council should maximise its limited influence [over] the location of masts and sites by having them sited on council-owned land and buildings."

The panel also called for residents and ward councillors to be given more information about plans for new masts in their areas.

The report cites concerns raised by residents living in the Shooters Hill area of Meir about a large mast near their homes which they claim has caused at least a dozen deaths through cancers and brain haemorrhages in recent years.

The councillors concluded that while there was no reliable evidence to support the residents' claims, the council should not ignore the public alarm caused by phone masts and the possible impact of these fears on people's health.

It said: "Masts can be imposing and possibly frightening structures. It therefore is entirely understandable that some communities are upset by their presence.

"People's feelings are real and many politicians feel the planning laws need to accommodate the fears people have."

Shooters Hill resident Jenny Mansell said she was disappointed that the report did not support campaigners' views on the Orange mast in their area.

The 59-year-old, of Grangewood Avenue, said: "It has taken the councillors almost a year to finish their report and it doesn't really say anything new. It's all right saying they should put masts on council land and away from children, but I want to know whether the planners will actually implement that."

Fellow campaigner Jean Hopkins, of Cherrywood Grove, said: "I am quite angry with the report because it contains a number of inaccuracies about the Shooters Hill mast.

"It doesn't help us at all and the precautions about siting masts away from schools should have been done a long time ago."

The report will be discussed at Thursday's health overview and scrutiny committee meeting.

Task and finish group chairman councillor Alby Walker, pictured, said he was aware of the residents' concerns and would be inviting them to the meeting.

He said: "At the moment, it is just a draft report which will be discussed by the committee before it is finalised and presented to the cabinet.

"The report itself had to be based on evidence, but when I add my own comments they will reflect the public concerns that exist about phone masts."