A Leicester Green Party campaign to find out how many mobile phone-mast sites are in the City of Leicester and an article in the Leicester Mercury (17.1.04) has prompted the Leicester East MP Keith Vaz to set down an early day motion in Parliament - because he believes people should know exactly where the mobile phone-masts are, which requires a register.
The Green Party has been trying to gather a comprehensive list of phone-mast sites since July 2003. Masts below 15M height do not require planning permission. Therefore, no one knows how many masts there are in the City or even in the County. Inquiries show some masts have been sited in schools, in colleges, in hospitals, ambulance stations and hidden in lamp stands and in posts on the pavements.
In an interview with the Leicester Mercury, 10 Jan 2004, Bob Ball of the Green Party said, "It's amazing to think wherever you are in the City you are close to a mast. While the Government's Website www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk, indicate positions of those masts that needed planning permission (above 15M), we at not sure their maps are up to date. Many people still have concerns about mobile-phone safety.
"We still don't know the long-term effects on health of mobile-phones. Even the Government's Stewart Report did not given mobile-phone systems a clean bill of Health – hence its precautionary guidance and a call for more research."
In the summer of 2003, in response to residents' concerns, the Leicester Green Party successfully spearheaded a campaign against plans to site a 40-foot mast on the edge of Victoria Park in Leicester. One hundred and sixty people wrote in opposition to the mast, the highest number ever received by Leicester Council against a phone-mast planning application.
For more information in articles and letters related to the Leicester Green Party's campaign, please go to the Leicester Mercury's website on www.leicestermercury.co.uk on the 16.7.2003, 31.7.2003, 4.8.2003, 12.12.2003 and 10.1.2004.
A campaign led by the Green Party has caused Leicester Council to re-think and to reject a proposal to site a phone mast on the edge of Victoria Park. More than 160 people objected to the proposed mast, which would have been almost on the park itself (Mercury, 31 July). Officers say this was the highest number of objections they had received in opposition to a phone mast in the City.
In a letter to the Council, Green Party spokesperson Bob Ball said: "The Council's decision to consider new mobile phone installations on council-owned property was and is inappropriate because of public concerns over safety. Even the Government's Stewart Report did not give mobile phone systems a clean bill of health, hence its precautionary guidance and a call for more scientific research, which is not expected until about 2004. Until that safety review is complete, we call on Leicester Council to refuse planning permission for new phone masts and equipment on land and property where they are able to do so, as Kent County Council tries to do."
Writing to the Mercury on the same issue, Bob Ball added: "Quite simply we are protecting a green space - residents and park-users do not want a 41-foot high mast damaging the visual amenity of the park for years to come, in a residential area containing schools. The Green Party is not against mobile phone technology, but believes in applying the precautionary principle where we are unsure about the potential risks to public health."
Green Campaign Stops Phone Mast