Minds on the mast

img_7239The news, as reported in the Wanstead Guardian, that a mobile phone mast is to be installed on Hermon Hill despite the objections of residents has caused some angst.

The reason, the paper reports, is that the paperwork which would have prevented the installation needed to be filed by Redbridge Council within 56 days of the application. It was done on the 57th day, so the mast will now be built, and indeed the associated roadside green cabinets are already being installed.

Residents said the mast should not be sited so close to homes or the new Little Diamonds nursery which has been operating for the past year. Despite reassurances that they are safe, many people believe masts pose a danger particularly to young children.
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The council told the paper that it was all down to a “technicality” and asked the telecoms company to reconsider. A spokesman said:

“We have made our objections clear to the company, we feel they should take their corporate and social responsibility seriously and reconsider whether they should build the mast.”

A glance at the planning application which is still displayed at the site does not inspire a huge amount of confidence that everyone is concentrating as hard as they should be. Two spelling mistakes in the first line of the notice?

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7 thoughts on “Minds on the mast”

  1. It has been shown in studies that the effects from holding the phone to your ear is worse than standing next to a mast.

    I wonder how many of the people complaining don’t use mobile phones and aren’t just nimbys.

    1. ‘NIMBYism’ or personal mobile use are not the relevant issues here – it’s about fairness.

      Redbridge Council refused the mast application in December 2015. A new application was made and again refused in March 2016 with strong local opposition. The community have been badly let down by Redbridge, whose schoolboy errors have allowed Telefonica to exploit the situation to their own end.

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