MOBILE PHONE MASTS

When Oakwood resident Nicky Mount first found out that a mobile phone company was going to put a mast in the area's leisure centre, she was outraged. Like many residents, she was disgusted that she could find herself living near the technology that makes it possible, a mast. The mast was installed at Springwood Leisure Centre, in Springwood Drive in January 2004, disguised as a floodlight. "It frightened me to death to see how many mobile phone masts there are. You don't realise until one is on your doorstep that they're actually everywhere," she said. "I do have a mobile phone, I think everyone in the group does, but we only use them for emergencies. When you have emergencies, you're usually away from home so that's why we can't understand why the mast has to be in a residential area."

Masts are indeed "everywhere". In Derby alone, with its population of 250,000 people, there are 103 mobile masts. There are more than 230 masts in the rest of Derbyshire. So, why has this happened and are there really any grounds to be worried? There has been a huge growth in the number of people using mobile phones, from 27% in 2000, to 70% now. More recently, a new technology has been introduced, third generation mobile phones. These phones have video and internet facilities but they need their own system of phone masts. In 2000, the Government gave five licences for third generation mobile networks to five phone operators, earning itself £22.5 billion in the process.

Hutchison 3G is the only one to have a third generation network in place at the moment but Vodafone, Orange, O2 and T-Mobile are currently in the process of building their networks. Phone operator Hutchison 3G says the masts are being put up to meet a Government-set target of 80% coverage by 2007. This area is already feeling the effects of efforts to increase coverage for the ordinary network and to meet the third technology network target. Since January 2003, the installation of nine masts in and around the city have been brought to the attention of our readers.

Residents have joined together to campaign against the masts, petitioning local authorities to oppose them, but why are they so concerned when there are no proven health risks associated with radiation emitted from mobile phone masts? The International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has set guidelines on the radiowaves emitted from masts, limiting second generation antenna to 10 watts per square metre and third generation antenna to nine watts per square metre. Verity Stanford, spokeswoman for Hutchison 3G, said its masts, which are all identical, cover between 300 and 500 metres and have a maximum power of 20 watts.

"It's a fraction of the guidelines," she added. A report released last month by the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation (AGNIR) said, "Exposure levels from living near mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a risk to human health." But it also said that because mobile phones have only been in use for a short time, the first was introduced in 1985, there is still a possibility that there could be health risks and so more research was still needed. The report added that mobile phones are likely to pose a greater risk than distant masts.

Phone operators have to give the local authority a 56-day notification period, during which time the council will consult residents living within 90 metres of the proposed site. Oakwood residents only found out about the mast when it was actually installed, months after the site was approved. The uproar caused by this means that the council has this week altered its notification procedure to include any residents living with 200 metres of a proposed site or any directly facing it. Richard Smalley, Derby City Council member and chairman of its planning committee, said, "The situation at Oakwood has highlighted the problem. You would not imagine that you could put a mobile phone mast in and under the current rules no-one would be notified. That was wrong and needed to be changed."

The city council is also in the process of compiling a register of exactly where masts are located. In the meantime, residents can only wait for the onslaught of more masts as other companies embrace the new third generation phones. For example, T-Mobile has 19 masts in Derby and is planning to install 17 more in the coming year. In South Derbyshire, it has 12 masts and one planned for the coming year. In the North East of the county, there are eight existing masts with one more planned to be installed in the coming year. The fact remains that no matter how much the council tries to appease residents, it still cannot object to masts on health grounds. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

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