Phone mast planning shambles revealed

21st February 2006

Emily Thornberry has backed a campaign to get Islington’s Lib Dem Council to consult and listen to local people instead of ignoring them when deciding applications for new phone mast.

Teachers, parents and local residents are concerned about phone masts erected on Leroy House near St. Paul’s Steiner School and New River Green Children’s Centre. Emily met with a group of teachers, parents and local residents and received a 154 person petition opposing the positioning of phone masts near schools.   She has been working with them to hold the council to account for putting up the phone masts without consulting the local community properly. The phone masts, including BT Cell Net and T-Mobile installations, tower over St Paul’s Steiner School and New River Green Children’s Centre from Leroy House, which is directly opposite on the other side of Essex Road.

Emily discussed a letter she had received from the council which revealed that:

• The council failed to meet government best practice in consulting parents. Government best practice recommends that schools are sent two recorded delivery letters telling them about proposals for new phone masts nearby. However, Islington Council only sent one letter to the school about new equipment on Leroy House. 

• The company that put up one of the phone masts didn’t keep to mandatory government guidelines and best practice. These require that local schools are consulted by the phone mast operator but this did not happen in the case of St Paul’s Steiner School.

• The Council may have breached mandatory government rules when approving new phone masts.  The guidelines - introduced in August 2001 by the government to give local people a say - require that local residents and schools be consulted on plans for new phone masts. Islington Council may have failed to update its own procedures for more than two years after August 2001 – meaning that it did not keep to the rules.

• Other schools in Islington may not have not been consulted properly about phone masts near them because of the delay in updating the Council’s procedures. There are 57 nursery, primary and secondary CEA schools in Islington.

The approach of the Council flies in the face of the views of local residents, ODPM best practice and the Lib Dem’s own national policy.

Emily said:
‘The Council’s approach has been an utter shambles. The teachers and parents at St. Paul Steiner feel very let down by the Council.  They didn’t consult with the school properly – ignoring best practice – and only now that I’ve brought the matter up with them are they beginning to hold the phone company to account. I want the council to change its procedures to ensure that local people are listened to. We need a clearly thought out, open and accountable system. I hope the Council will implement the changes I am suggesting.’
St Paul Steiner parent Deborah Law said:

‘We are grateful that Emily is taking the concerns of parents seriously in this matter to work towards removing phone masts from Leroy House. We remain extremely concerned about the heath effects of phone masts and are very upset that the council did not consult us properly. The phone companies seem to be ignoring their own best practice. We wonder how many other schools in Islington have been affected.’

Emily will be writing the council once again to demand that they change their approach. Emily wants Islington Council to:

• Set up a mast register showing all the phone masts in Islington, and applications for new masts. Many other councils have these.

• Make sure that when new masts are put up all, schools nearby receive two letters by recorded delivery consulting them on their views. One should go to the head teacher and the other to the chair of governors.

• Have a dedicated telecommunications plan that sets out clearly how the council will deal with phone mast planning in detail.

• Toughen up procedures with phone mast operators to make sure they consult local communities and that radiation levels near masts are properly checked.

An independent committee chaired by Professor Sir William Stewart, who was tasked by the government to independently assess the issues surrounding phone masts and mobile phones. The results were that it:

• Found no evidence that telephone masts cause health problems but recommended a ‘precautionary approach’.

• That radiation levels near schools be checked for conformity with guidelines.

Editors’ Notes:

• Photo shows from left to right - Emily Thornberry MP, Rita Mcloughlin (outreach worker from New River Green Children’s Centre), Ken Runciman (Parent, St. Paul’s Steiner School), Jane Gerhard (Development Officer, St. Paul’s Steiner School) who is presenting the petition to Emily and Deborah Law (Parent, St. Paul’s Steiner School). Leroy house and the phone masts are in the background.

• Leroy House is at 436 Essex Road, London , N1 3QP

• St. Paul’s Steiner School, St Paul's Church,1 St Paul's Road, N1 2QH 

• Nationally the Lib Dems say that communities should be consulted but locally when in power they do otherwise. A national examples is here:
http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/story.html?id=5025&navPage=news.html

• Islington Council accept that the school were sent only one letter by normal post. Best practice requires that schools receive two letters by recorded delivery.

• Eastboune Counil’s mast register is here: http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/Planning/Applications/phone-mast.asp. Emily wants Islington Council to set up something similar.

• Mandatory government guidance: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1143963

• Government best practice and operators code of conduct:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1144926