I was disappointed that Mr Michael Dolan, Executive Director Mobile Operators Association, did not speak directly to me to obtain the facts of the Campaign that is taking place to permanently remove the base-station on High Acres Estate Kingswinford.

There are several factors to our case and Mr Dolan is very welcome to visit the site, look at the documentation that has been obtained to date and discuss the unacceptable situation our community are faced with.

The base-station should be located well away from residences and Public Open Space where children play. In 2000 the Stewart report said “Macrocell base-stations sited within or near school grounds, should not have a beam of greatest intensity that falls on any part of the school grounds or buildings without agreement from the school and parents”. Therefore, why should children attending schools be any different to children living near phone masts, don’t they have the same rights?

The 2000 Stewart Report also says “People can vary in their susceptibility to environmental hazards. “It is not possible at present to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects, and that the gaps in knowledge are sufficient to justify a precautionary approach”.

It is extremely difficult to see how this has been observed in our case.

We are well aware that without a network of masts, mobile phones simply don’t work, and I would like to make it quite clear that our campaign is not to ban masts, we are not against them but are 100 per cent in favour of sensible siting away from homes, schools and areas where children play.

Everyone has a choice as to whether or not we use a mobile phone but our community have been given no say in being exposed 24/7 to a mast. Radiation effects are the same worldwide and yet different countries have adopted different standards on exposure to electro-magnetic radiation which is the same level for children and adults, the level in this country being 41-61 V/m depending on the frequency, Switzerland & Italy 6.0 V/m, Russia and China 3.0–6.0 V/m. ICNIRP guidelines are 10 years old and out of date, they only protect us for short-term exposure and protect us from getting shocks and burns. No-one knows the safe level, they are just a set of guidelines, they are not law, is it right to expose people to untested and unregulated technology? People have been living with base-stations for about 15 years and it is only now that any adverse health effects might be expected to manifest. The latest research can be found by visiting the following websites – radiationresearch.org and mastaction.co.uk.

I would personally like to thank Edward Davies of Wollaston and A Wills of Ruislip for taking the time to write such excellent letters of support for our campaign, it is greatly appreciated.

Wendy Baggott

For High Acres Base-Station Mast Action Group