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What advantages does this development bring to my community?
There are now more mobile phones in the world than there are conventional fixed-line phones. In the United Kingdom over 90 per cent of the population has a mobile phone.
Mobile phones have brought greater flexibility and efficiency into many walks of life, and local services such as doctors, vets, delivery and tradespeople for example use them to offer a more responsive service - perhaps calling you if they are delayed or unable to find your address.
Family and friends are able to keep in touch, and even if you do not have a mobile phone yourself you can use your conventional phone to call them urgently, should the need ever arise.
The growth of mobile telecommunications has enabled small businesses to develop and thrive in rural areas, and many people are now able to work from their own home.
Every year many lives are saved because the majority of calls to emergency services are made by mobile phone.
Why do some mobile phone base stations need to be close to where people live or work?
Over 90% of the UK population now has a mobile phone. Mobile phones are small transmitters that can communicate effectively over only relatively short distances. This means that base stations need to be near the places people use their mobile phones, such as in their home, offices, shops, public spaces etc. Mobile phone users expect their phones to work well in these places and mobile operator companies are under an obligation to meet this demand for their services under the terms of their licences issued by government.
What about my health and safety?
All mobile phone base stations under National Grid Wireless' control operate within the internationally accepted ICNIRP (International Commission for Non Ionising Radiation Protection) guidelines, adopted in the UK on the recommendation of the Stewart Report, recently reaffirmed by the UK Health Protection Agency.
The ICNIRP guidelines are accepted by the World Health Organisation, the EU and the majority of countries across the world.
It may be helpful to look at independent sources of information for more detail.
The World Health Organisation on its website has an extensive article on electromagnetic fields, and the research findings over 30 years. We would not wish to summarise the report but two paragraphs state:
"In the area of biological effects and medical applications of non-ionising radiation approximately 25,000 articles have been published over the past 30 years. Despite the feeling of some people that more research needs to be done, scientific knowledge in this area is now more extensive than for most chemicals."
"Despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health."
The full WHO report can be found at:
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/print.html
In January 2005 the UK's statutory adviser on the safety of radio waves, the NRPB, (now incorporated into the Health Protection Agency) published two documents which are available on the HPA's web site at www.hpa.org.uk
The first, a "Summary of recent reports on mobile phones and health", compared a substantial number of reviews on mobile phone technologies and health, from national and international committees, expert groups and agencies.
Concerning base stations, the NRPB's summary observed:
"Further, these reports stress that very low level exposures, typical of base stations, are extremely unlikely to cause any effects on biophysical grounds" (Page 3, Summary of conclusions and recommendations)
The second document, "Mobile Phones and Health 2004", is a follow-up to the Stewart Report on mobile phones and health which was published in 2000. Sir William Stewart is now Chairman of the Health Protection Agency. In considering measured surveys of radio field strengths around mobile phone base stations this report concluded:
"The measurements also demonstrate that there is no scientific basis for establishing minimum distances between base stations and areas of public occupancy, as has been suggested in some countries. There are many sources of RF [Radio Frequency] fields and it would in practice have little impact on people's overall exposure". (Introduction, paragraph 53)
What is National Grid Wireless' policy towards consulting local people?
The mobile phone operators have given a commitment to government to improve community consultation and in co-operation with other stakeholders, including the Local Government Association; they have developed a process for doing so. This process can be viewed at the web site of the Mobile Operators' association at: http://www.mobilemastinfo.com/planning/best_practice.htm
National Grid Wireless supports the operators' initiative and has undertaken to comply with the agreed consultation process in cooperation with the operators.
The process requires all proposals for new base stations to be assessed for likely community sensitivity and for an appropriate consultation strategy to be adopted.
In some cases the strategy will simply require consultation with the local planning officers, but in the case of more sensitive proposals we will also communicate with local people, either directly or through their locally elected representatives including local councillors and parish councils or their equivalents.
In addition, the local planning authority may carry out local consultation once it has received an application.
Will my TV/radio reception be affected once the base station is operational?
Radio transmissions and allocation of frequencies in the UK are controlled by OFCOM to ensure that interference does not occur.
Transmissions from mobile phone base stations have to be technically precise for the mobile service to operate and for these reasons it is very rare for interference issues to arise in connection with mobile phone base stations.
In the unlikely event of such problems, OFCOM is responsible for enforcing regulation and investigating interference issues. OFCOM can be contacted at OFCOM Contact Centre, Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA or via their website www.ofcom.org.uk
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