Lib Dem councillors in Haringey are to challenge the Labour Council to bring mobile phone masts under strict planning control and introduce the precautionary principle, giving extra safeguards for schools, homes, and medical facilities from the risk of excessive radiation. The move backs a Lib Dem Bill due to be voted on in Parliament this Friday, and is to be put in a Council motion next Monday evening.

The positioning of mobile phone masts has caused controversy across Haringey, with concern over the placing of masts near schools and residential areas.Local planning authorities do not currently have any powers to block applications for masts below 15 metres and only have limited powers for those above.

Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson and Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone comments:

“A lot of the present problems stem from a deal struck by the Tories with the phone companies when they were in government. This has cut planning controls for masts. It is therefore easier to get planning permission for a mast than it is for a porch. This problem needs to be addressed.

“Andrew Stunell’s bill will allow planning authorities to take account of health concerns and will require the industry to produce more evidence about the radiation emitted, and to justify the need for each mast.”

Ms Featherstone, along with Tottenham’s Parliamentary Spokesperson Cllr Wayne Hoban, is also asking the borough’s two Labour MPs to support the bill.

Cllr Wayne Hoban adds:

“I hope that the bill gains all-party support, and that our two Labour MPs back Andrew Stunell’s Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Bill. This anomaly must be resolved.”