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3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Mike Willetts (14th Oct 2003 - 15:21:34) Were you warned that the plan to erect a 15 meter high 3G mast, orginally rejected by the council, was going to appeal. Living right next door we certainly were not - and now we are told that there is nothing we can do. 3G masts are banned from residential areas in the USA, Australia and New Zealand on the grounds that they pose a seriuos health hazard. The UK "safe" radiation threshold is 6 times higher than most other countries have deemed acceptable, and 8 times higher than the rest of Europe! A study in Holland has shown that living in the proximity of 3G radiation produces nausea, sleeplessness and increased risk of cancer. The Home Office has recently commissioned research into the health hazard from 3G - it will take 15 years to conclude, so in the meantime we are to be treated as human guinea pigs. The plans used to support the appeal were outdated and didn't show all the houses no surrounding the siting of the mast - we have a seven year old who if she ventures into the garden can walk within a metre of the mast itself! If you value the safety of children more than being able to see premiership goals on your mobile, then please take heed of this danger and make yourself heard.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Alex Cameron (14th Oct 2003 - 22:49:21) Does this qualify as spam? I'm sure everyone in the whole town got a leaflet about this! My personal view? No idea about the health consequences, although i probably should research it. But the idea of potentially 25MB/sec access speeds on the little black typing pad in my pocket does appeal :D

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Jenny (15th Oct 2003 - 16:24:09) Mike, Do you know where we can access more information on this mast - exactly where it is going to be and the health risk information? thanks jenny

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Mike Willetts (17th Oct 2003 - 09:21:39) Jenny asks for some more details about the 3 G mast and the health issues: 1. The mast will be 15 meters high and placed just behing the post office sorting building on the Porstmouth road, and next to the boundary of Fairfax House. It will be seen from the road and practically within touching distance of the houses around the Firs and Fairfax House. 2. The appeal process could have involved a public debate, but they decided that instead they would conduct it in writing. A very clever ploy, seeing that they didn't inform people that the process was taking place, so no one had an opportunity to write and complain!! I think we have strong grounds here on the basis that the appeal process was flawed. 3. On the health issues (and I have to say I am a frequent mobile phone user) there is plenty of info on the www. You should look at www.mastsanity.org and www.kilsyth.org.uk/communitycouncil/mobile_phone_masts.htm From what I have read, this is a real threat and not something that we should ignore. 4. I would encourage everyone to voice their concerns, through our MP - James Arbuthnot and by writing to the Council. 5. As for Alex Camerons concern that the 50 letters I dropped through mailboxes in the immediate area, I hardly think that a matter of this importance, directed to those who will suffer from the siting of this mast, needed to know that this was taking place. I have received 30 replies in support and therefore think that Mr Camerons preference for greater speed of data transmission through his handheld is a minority view in comparison to the health of the rest of the community.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Freddie Dawkins (17th Oct 2003 - 09:59:50) Mike - Don't give up. The people behind MastSanity.org also have guidance on appeals, how to escalate complaints etc. If the decision was taken on flawed information (wrong maps etc) you can fight this. However, having been through a similar process, I must warn you that you'll need about 10,000 pounds to get to the High Court. Another route: Complain to John Prescott's office (ODPM) at DEFRA. detail your grounds for complaint. Copy this to the Local Government Ombudsman. EHDC should support you. They will have access to correct street plans. Our local District Councillors are Sam James, Anna James and Eve Hope. They can all help. If you need any local help, give me a call on 07769 665 963. rgds Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Mike Grimes (17th Oct 2003 - 23:36:50) It must be remembered that our government (who always act in our best interest) sold the licences to use these 3G airwaves (were they theirs to sell?) for something like 12 Billion pounds. Having paid this kind of money for the rights to use this potential health hazard the operators would understandably resent, and central government would be acutely embarassed by, local planning getting in the way of the implementation. Just another example of this government implementing it's agenda whilst claiming to 'listen' but never hearing. I think local protests are bound to fail as this is a national issue. Maybe we need a protest of the scale of the countryside alliance or the fuel protests, come to think of it, given the effect they had, it needs to be bigger - get those tractors out! Anyway, Mike, I saw the press you've generated this week and am with you on this one. The assurances that it is safe are about as believeable as the assurances that WMD exist(ed) in Iraq. Maybe they'll discover a TETRA mast in Tikrit!

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Alex Cameron (18th Oct 2003 - 13:32:40) Mike - my apologies for being so flippant. I would love fast access speeds and the icrease of technology use provided through 3G, but not at the expense of the health of people's children. Could you clarify some things? Who directly grants permission for these masts? Who lodges the application for them and what is the procedure that must be gone through? Are they obliged to consider alternative sites? May i suggest you use the free service to fax James Arbuthnot: http://www.faxyourmp.com. I'm not sure how much you can expect from him as i've never seen any visible evidence that he's done anything for this part of the world. Looks like he got voted for as he's the conservative candidate - not his merits. James, if i'm wrong i sincerely apologise. If i'm not, i don't. Again without being flippant, that i'd personally help you dismantle or disfigure it as a piece of very positive civil disobedience. Maybe disconnect it and place a petition for the engineers to take back with them? I wonder if you could churn up a bit of interesting publicity and get the media down? Maybe not chaining yourself to it, but something equally dramatic. Personally i'd get a 45ft photo of a guinea pig and strap it on for road-users to look at. Either that or a whole tonne of meat from the butcher - set it up like a giant kebab. Failing that, 'accidentally' drive into it or have a spontaneous fireworks display on top of it for Nov 5th? If we don't want it, lets take it down. And if they put it back up, lets keep taking it down until it becomes unviable.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Jill Willetts (20th Oct 2003 - 11:17:01) Just following on from my husband's initial posting on this .... We had our inaugural meeting last week and had a very good attendance. The next meeting will be this Saturday 25th October at 9.30 am - please phone me on 723184 if you would like to attend and support us. We are currently canvassing and lobbying, but we do need more help to make everyone in Bramshott and Liphook aware of this. Some key points (but by no means all) are: We have today delivered a letter to the Chief Executive of EHDC advising that we think the appeal process was flawed. The Herald have been to see us again and taken photos - they want to speak to us again before they go to press on Wednesday. We have written to our MP, James Aburthnot - had a reply from his office but so far not from him personally. Lots of other people we are in the process of talking to include lawyers, scientists, etc. However the bottom line is this mast will have a serious effect on everyone in Liphook, not just those in the neighbouring houses, and we need to fight as a community to say that we don't want this one or any others in the centre of our village. If you can't attend the meeting on Saturday, but want to support and help us, please call me asap. Thanks.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - jenny alexander (20th Oct 2003 - 13:34:54) The work everyone is putting into this is fantasic. After reading the answer to my question that mike so kindly answered i called east hants council and spoke to Sue Yates in the planning department. She explained that the council had said no to the application but it had been appealed and agreed by an outside inspector. She seemed to be slightly embarrased by this and kept stressing the point that the council had said no. She also said there was nothing that could be done once planning has been agreed by the inspector. However i don't think this is true - i don't know how many people live in liphook but it must be up in the many thousands, if we can act together as a community to put together something like the carnival then i am sure we can band together to put a stop to something that will affect all of us and our health. How about trying to get some more national attention to the problem or speaking to other villages and town which have had these masts put up and seeing if we can group together and make it more people? Each person in Liphook will be able to do something. Prehaps someone knows someone at a national paper or a radio station. Prehaps someone has the connections to make flyers to be handed out at the carnival to make more people aware? Everybody can achive something even if it seems small and it can all add up in the end. I can try to get a more national paper interested if that would help?

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Mike Grimes (23rd Oct 2003 - 00:10:58) Tonight's Evening Standard carried a news story that a Waterlooville resident (who happens to be pregnant - greater effect, but not the point in my view) had had a 3G mast erected (without permission) 7 Metres from her home. The story was conflicting in that it first claimed that planning approval (presumably by Havant) had been given but later claimed that the mast had been erected and retrospective planning permission sought. Anyway, the crux seemed to be that she had obtained a high court judgement (which seems to be a precedent) that planning permission should only be granted if it can be shown that the site chosen least affects the local community rather than being the easiest to use or gain permission and that the health concerns of residents in the immediate vicinity are valid. Now that a legal precedent has been set, a flood of further actions is expected. I notice that there are notices appearing in the village that proclaim 'Stop the Masts'. This message seems to imply that 'all masts are bad'. I think that there maybe (unknown) risks with certain types of radiation from certain types of masts from prolonged exposure close to them. (Less than 50 Meters has been suggested - many think it should be more.) We have lived with masts for some time now otherwise we would have no television, radio or 2G mobile phones. To succeed, we must be realistic and understand what we are campaigning for (or against). No masts in the liphook area means no mobile phone coverage in Liphook (once 2G is phased out), no effective policing, poor TV reception etc. I think we need the masts but there should be serious consideration to residents given when the site is chosen and this is what this latest court ruling seems to support.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - Mike Grimes (23rd Oct 2003 - 10:54:48) Here is a link to the news story http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=456227

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - catherine hewson (29th Oct 2003 - 15:22:37) Update We have attended the Liss meeting on Sunday 26th October on Tetra and 3G mobile phone masts. This was an excellent meeting and raised many important issues. We as a group have since met again to focus our efforts in Liphook. We are now proposing our own village meeting to raise awareness further in Liphook as this is a village issue. In response to the previous mail, the proposed new 3G mast (and tetra in passfield) are different from the earlier mobile phone masts - the long term outcomes are largely unknown albeit a shortterm study has been undertaken and reported in the Stewart Report. A recently completed Dutch study has indicated that there are health concerns to be taken into consideration within 1/2 km of a mast. In our case, with a proposed mast for the PO Sorting office, this would extend across most of the centre of Liphook. As has become apparent, a huge percentage of the residents of Liphook are totally unaware of these masts, we are therefore focussing our efforts on educating our community. We are hoping to have an expert to our public meeting, who spoke at the Liss Meeting. If anyone is able to help us on printing or distributing posters and leaflets we would be most grateful. Or for further information please contact us. 723184 or 722323. We will post dates and times once organised.

Re: 3G mast at Post Office Exchange - catherine hewson (30th Oct 2003 - 15:52:14) Does anyone know of any high profile people living in Liphook/the area who could help with raising awareness about the mast? Catherine

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