MP urges council to refuse phone mast

Following an outcry from residents, Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell is calling on Hillingdon Council to refuse the erection of a mobile phone mast in a residential area of Yeading.

The 15m mast, which one2one is hoping to install near the Texaco Service Station in Yeading Lane, close to Barnhill Community School and Belmore Primary School, has met opposition from residents concerned about the effects it could have on their health.

'I share residents' fears that whilst the possible impact of telephone masts remains unclear, the site proposed in Yeading Lane, close to homes and a school route is totally unsuitable,' said Mr McDonnell.

'We've already got these masts everywhere, and I don't believe they need to place them in residential areas in Greater London, where there's no shortage of open space,' he added.

His announcement on Thursday last week came the day after the Scottish Parliament was presented with a report on research into the possible links between electromagnetic waves and cancer.

In the next few weeks, a similar report is planned to come before this country's Department of Trade and Industry and more than 150 MPs have called on the Government to ban masts from schools, hospitals and residential areas.

A Hillingdon Council spokesman said although no planning permission was needed for the masts, companies wanting to install them had to consult local authorities which consult residents.

The council can formally object on planning not health grounds and try and reach a compromise but the company does have the right to appeal to the Secretary of State.

A spokesman for one2one said the company installed 140 masts a month to meet the demands of the one-in-three Britons who now use mobile phones.

Applications to install a 14m high phone mast in Barra Hall Circus, Hayes and 12m masts in Sutton Court Road and Harlington Road Hillingdon, were received by the council last month alone.

Following a petition by residents in Harvey Road on the borough boundary with Northolt, councillors on the Ruislip and Northwood planning committee meeting on Tuesday have been advised by officers to refuse a Vodafone application to install a 20m mast next to Down Barnes Farm in West End Road, Ruislip.

And in February, residents in Northwood managed to halt a One 2 One application to install a mast on the corner of Church Road and Northwood Way.