Campaigners outside the council's chamber. Picture: Mike Evans

by Jenni Horn

jhorn@thekmgroup.co.uk

Plans to step up the campaign against a mobile phone mast which has been put up next to a primary school have received unanimous support from Medway Council.

Campaigners have been fighting the mast in Railway Street, Gillingham, since Vodafone first applied for planning permission more than four years ago. The positioning of the mast is just yards away from St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Greenfield Road.

Medway Council turned down the application twice but the decision was overturned by the planning inspectorate and the 3G mast was installed earlier this year.

Worried parents at the school vowed to continue their fight and they now have cross-party support.

At last Thursday’s full meeting of Medway Council, Cllr Andy Stamp, the Lib Dem ward councillor for the area, put forward a motion against the mast.

The motion was given full backing by all members of the council and the council has agreed to write to Vodafone to demand the mast is pulled down.

Medway Council has adopted a four-point plan:

• For the chief executive of Medway Council to write to Vodafone urging them to reconsider, for the safety of children, their decision to place a mast in Railway Street and to request a meeting with them and representatives from Medway Council to discuss the matter, with a view of having the phone mast removed.
• To seek the support of the MP for Rainham and Gillingham and asks that he table an early day motion to restrict the location of mobile phone masts in the vicinity of schools and densely populated residential areas.
• To write to the government expressing the view that planning decisions are best left in the hands of local authorities who have a wide understanding of their area and not to planning inspectors who have scant knowledge of local circumstances.
• To call on the chairman of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to put forward a member’s item looking into the possible health implications associated with phone masts.

Cllr Rehman Chishti (Con) said: “I congratulate the parents, children and teachers for their tireless campaign against this mast. This four point plan puts pressure of the government and the mobile phone companies to take greater consideration of the potential health impact on children and residents when deciding where to place these phone masts and I hope that the local MP will take up this cause by putting forward an early day motion to restrict the locations of masts near schools.”