|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| NEWS | By RICHARD OSLEY |
|
|
WATERED-DOWN proposals to tighten up rules on mobile phone mast applications have been approved by the council. A Tory motion calling for the Town Hall to lobby for a change in guidelines which would allow Camden to turn down bids from mobile firms on the grounds of residents’ health fears went before Monday’s full council meeting. But the plan was only agreed after it had been amended by majority Labour councillors who stripped out the call for powers to reject bids on people’s fears. Instead, the policy will now read that applications should be turned down where material health risks can be identified. The change left original Tory proposer Councillor Mike Greene unhappy. He said: “There have been a great number of disputes in Hampstead regarding mobile phone masts. Will we find out whether masts are dangerous or completely safe in six months? No we won’t. It’s going to take 10 or 20 years until we find that out. If someone did this with food products they would be considered irresponsible if they were to release it before it was thoroughly tested.” Lib Dem councillor Margaret Little added: “There is a lot of fear. There may not be any scientific approval yet, and there may never be any, but there is fear. “At the moment in Hampstead there are enough masts, if they were shared, for there to be no need for any more to go up.” Labour councillor Brian Woodrow, Camden’s planning chief, said: “What you (the Tory proposers) are asking us to do is take on the perception of this rather than the reality. If there is demonstrable evidence, public health can be used.” |
|
