Malmesbury mast plans thrown out (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Malmesbury mast plans thrown out

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to install a telecommunications mast and base unit on top of Malmesbury Town Hall has been unanimously thrown out after several town councillors condemned it as potentially hazardous to health.

The Orange mobile phone company had offered to pay the town council £6,000 a year for up to 15 years to install the equipment on the town hall roof.

An initial approach from agents representing Orange was rejected outright at a meeting of the council on Tuesday night, despite appeals from some councillors that a final decision should be defered pending further discussion and investigation.

The company had earlier made a similar offer to Bill and Angela Sykes who live at Tower House, a few yards away from the town hall. They had also refusd the approach.

"The money would have come in very useful for our retirement," said Mrs Sykes after the meeting. "But we could never have faced our neighbours again if we had accepted the offer. There is a genuine concern about what the radiation emissions from these base units do to people. It's scary stuff."

Mr Sykes, attending the meeting in his capacity as a representative of the Malmesbury Residents' Association, told councillors: "It's totally wrong - no amount of money is worth a neighbour or a child dying from the effects of radiation."

Cllr Glyn Davies, supported by Cllr Charles Vernon, urged his colleagues to refer the matter to the council's policy and resources committee meeting next month so that it could be considered properly in the context of all the available evidence.

"Before we say no, we should have evidence presented to us, so that we can consider all the issues, including health issues," he said. "£6,000 a year over 15 years is not a sum we should turn down flat."

However, Cllr Ann Davis, also a district councillor, urged colleagues to bin the proposal without further ado.

"The precauationary principle - that you should not allow these masts near residential areas, seems sensible to me," she commented. "I would propose that we turn it down now."

Cllr Davis was supported by the Mayor Cllr Jacky Martin, and by councillors John Lawton, Brian Denley and Martin Snell.

Mrs Sykes told the meeting, from the public benches, that she had spoken to a consultant radiologist at Oxford who had told her that "the jury is still out" on whether such equipment could cause cancers in populated areas.

Cllr Glyn Davies' proposal to defer consideration of the idea pending further consideration was defeated by six votes to four. The proposal to take no further action in response to the approach from Orange was carried by 8-0, with three abstentions.