Residents in Westgate have contacted the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, to ask him to revoke a decision which allows a 20ft 5G phone mast to be installed next to St Saviour’s junior school.
Nik Wells and his mum-in-law Del Bentley have taken the action as part of a campaign to stop the installation from going ahead.
The go-ahead was given last year to Mobile Broadand Network Limited (MBNL), EE Limited and Three (H3G) UK Limited to install the 20m high Monopole disguised as a Cypress Tree with 6 antenna apertures & 2 600mm dishes after Thanet council decided prior approval was not required.
But Nik and Del say the decision is not lawful because Thanet council wrongly stated that the site is not in the Westgate Conservation Area.
Nik said: “We challenged TDC on this and suggested that due process was not correctly followed and that the decision of “Prior Approval Not Required” is not lawful and should be revoked under section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
“Thanet council rejected this and claim that it was an “administrative error” that does not affect their decision. We do not agree and have taken this to the Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, and requested for him to revoke the decision under section 100 of the 1990 Act. This request has been formally acknowledged and we await a decision.”
Residents have launched a petition against the phone mast installation which has been signed by some 630 people online and a further 150 on a paper petition.
In 2018 a similar application was made but due to Kent County Council planning policy at the time, including there being less than 25 years on lease of the cricket field site and due to the precautionary principle regarding safety of telephone masts near schools, KCC quashed the plans.
During lockdown the new application was submitted and the go-ahead given.
Nik said: “There was only one objection raised at the time, which is baffling but may be due to the lockdown and SARS-CoV-2 situation distracting people. I live approximately 100 metres from the planned installation and was totally unaware of it and certainly wasn’t consulted. One of my children attends the school whose playing field is on the site of the mast and until approximately 3 weeks ago, no communication to parents was received.”
Campaigners say they are being backed by councillors including Derek Crow-Brown and Bertie Braidwood and Nik says the headmaster at St Saviour’s, Nick Bonell, is also worried by the plans due to unknown health risks.
Planning documents say the mast, which will be on the Westgate Cricket club field, is 100 metres away from the nearest school but campaigners say the distance is closer to 14 metres.
The petition, which will be sent to Thanet council leader Ash Ashbee, says: “How safe is this for the children from St Saviours C of E Junior School (aged 7 to 11) to be playing alongside this new electromagnetic radiation technology?
“The playing fields are also used by the Westgate Cricket Club juniors each Sunday and during matches. Is it acceptable for them to also be bathed in this electromagnetic smog?”
Planning documents state 5G technology aims to greatly increase data speeds for uses such as near-instant downloads of HD films to connected cars, smart medical devices and smart cities.
The application for Westgate says: “This proposal is required to provide continued mobile coverage to the local area, as the existing MBNL (EE and Three) base station, which is situated at St Peters Church, Archdiocese of Southwark Canterbury Road, Westgate, is due for removal.
“This telecommunications site currently provides network coverage to the surrounding area and the potential loss of this site from the network, will result in a loss of communications and data services locally and a wider disruption to the mobile network, if a replacement site, which replicates the lost coverage, cannot be identified and integrated into the network at the earliest opportunity.
“This operational base-station must be decommissioned in the near future, generating need for a replacement site to avoid a coverage gap in the mobile network.”
Fears have been raised that the electromagnetic radiation used by mobile phone technologies could lead to increased health risks, including developing certain types of cancer.
The World Health Organization says no adverse health effects have been established but has also classified all radio frequency radiation as “possibly carcinogenic”.
However, because 5G technology uses more transmitters than previous versions, these run at lower power levels meaning the level of radiation exposure is said to be lower than previous mast technology.
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “Within the published report on the application, the site is incorrectly identified as being adjacent to the Westgate Conservation area rather than within it. This would not have changed the determination for this application.
“The phone mast would still have been considered acceptable on the grounds it would not have affected the significance of the Westgate Conservation area and is considered acceptable in terms of its location and appearance.
“We are aware of the request to revoke this decision, however it is our view that this decision is still valid and correct.”
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Meanwhile they are on their 5G phones… …….
No they aren’t. Fake news.
You’re absolutely right Mr Tesla: We’d be better-off with more low power masts, but people keep objecting so we have to have fewer, but more powerful ones.
Totally agree Nickolai the use there phones they all complain about bad reception you here about all around the UK mainly coastal areas and countryside masts are necessary to get good reception I understand their concerns how many of the children at the school as young as they are more than likely have a mobile phone people said that about the old fashioned TV Ariel’s and the electricity masts across the country they gave them power to their homes and good TV reception what about satellite dishes all over the place typical nimbys.
Madness. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with 5g (that isn’t wrong with every other form of electromagnetic radiation: radio, tv, 4g, infra red, cosmic rays, x-rays …) Folk have been happily benefitting from em radiation for decades, if not centuries. What a bunch of Luddites!
You obviously have no idea of the dangers that these 5G masts present to all of us but especially young developing childrens brains. Suggest rather than just wanting a better phone signal you do a little research into the real dangerous effects of 5G EMF.
Back to the 5G is evil & burn the poles routine it seems.
Why disguise it as anything?
It’s an attempt to blend in .. You might try it?
I won’t need it. I don’t have a mobile phone.
To the Editor Just a polite reminder. St Saviours is a Junior School and not Primary School.
And yet they are all up in arms on Facebook moaning about until the cows come home whilst using their phones no doubt. There are only 6 people that even bothered to turn up to have their photo taken in protest. Good to see how the nimbyism is alive and well in Westgate.
Talk about double standards. How many of those parents that have allegedly signed these so-called petitions have supplied their junior school child with a mobile phone? Over the years that my child attended this school the amount of year 6 pupils I saw collecting their phones from the teachers as they came out of the door at the end of the day was astounding. Kids that age do not need a mobile phone.
5g is military grade technology, with major insurance companies (including Lloyds) having an EMF exemption clause to get out of any liability for health damage. You don’t need 5g to operate a mobile phone – that should be blindingly obvious. The only safety studies vouching that 5g is safe are sponsored by the telecoms companies themselves. And there is also likely damage to pollinators and birds and nature as a whole, let alone children. Some countries have always gone with the precautionary principle, to not site masts near schools and community buildings. But critical thinking is clearly a thing of the past when big profits are involved. Some information on it all here: https://ehtrust.org/resources-to-take-action-on-us-5g-streamlining-bills/
On the other hand … https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Is-5G-dangerous-Debunking-the-myths
You’ve lost the argument Andrew when you use an article smacking of vested interests and any lack of calibre. Attached is a briefing document for the European Parliament. And here are just some brief comments: “Questions remain unanswered as to what 5G actually is, what it is for, whether it has impacts on human health and environment, whether it is secure, whether it offers good value for money or whether anyone will be prepared to pay for it.5 As an alternative, according to some experts,6 fibre optics would be more secure, safe and offer higher speed than 5G. However, fibre optics are not wireless…Other concerns relate to the creation of sufficient demand for 5G, security and health, safety and environmental issues.21 These need wider public awareness and consent, however this is doubly salient regarding the possible negative health impacts due to the inescapability of constant exposure of citizens in a 5G environment. The recent academic literature illustrates that continuous wireless radiation seems to have biological effects especially considering the particular characteristics of 5G: the combination of millimetre waves, a higher frequency, the quantity of transmitters and the quantity of connections. Various studies suggest that 5G would affect the health of humans, plants, animals, insects, and microbes – and as 5G is an untested technology, a cautious approach would be prudent. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Helsinki Accords and other international treaties recognise that informed consent prior to interventions that might affect human health is an essential, fundamental human right, which becomes even more controversial when considering children’s and young people’s exposure.”https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/646172/EPRS_BRI(2020)646172_EN.pdf
Everything is a conspiracy according to Democrat.
Comment lacks any intelligence sadly.
I’d rather be stupid than gullible and paranoid . If there’s a choice.
And it goes on. This is stirred up by conspiracy theorists daily on social media. They don’t have any credible evidence that it will harm anything & they ignore the fact that they are surrounded by naturally occurring electromagnetic waves. This is non ionising radiation with less power than an old style light bulb. At least covid conspiracy is getting a rest at the moment.
So many scientific reports out there on the dangers of this untested technology. Anyone using the CIA framed propaganda term ‘conspiracy theorist’ has already lost the argument in this day and age. See the briefing document to the European Parliament as just one tiny little example. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/646172/EPRS_BRI(2020)646172_EN.pdf
Instead of trawling through reams of tangential material, I’d rather see posted up evidence that says that 5g masts, correctly sited, are a hazard to public health.
I think “conspiracy theorist” is a very accurate term.
Please don’t mention the “C” word. You’ll get the “D” person all of a lather.
What naturally occurring electromagnetic waves are you referring to? Is it the 7-8 Hz we are naturally bathed in (Schumann resonances) or something else natural, e.g. the sun? I’m pretty certain these aren’t comparable to man-made EMF from telephone transmitters. Would you happily have one of these masts in your back garden, switched on 24/7? If so, let TDC know and perhaps we can switch this one out as a potential solution (assuming you are in Westgate).
There is one across the road at the moment no one has been fried and before that one was in place in the now disused tower at St Peter’s Catholic Church. what is the problem?
So sad to read some of the comments here when people have genuine concerns that are still required to be fully addressed. To be clear, this mast and accompanying technology isn’t just 5G, it is 3 and 4G, or to put it another way, various different frequencies of non-ionizing electromagnetic that are known and acknowledged to cause harm to differing degrees. This, I assume, is why the precautionary principle was previously applied by KCC.
A new and profitable residential development will be replacing the site of the previous mast in St Peters Church, hence the need to find a new location.
Perhaps finding a location that is not within metres of 7 to 11-year-old children would be preferable.
The International Commission on Non Iodising Radiation Protection set the safety levels for 5g masts at between 4-10,000 micro watts per m2. EMF Meters we have used in Westgate to measure these monopoles is showing readings of 15 to 19,000 So is far exceeding the recommended safety levels. Anyone who thinks 5G is safe is living in cloud cuckoo land. The truth will come out in the end
Whether or not your opinion is for the merits or dangers of 5G The question is why erect a mast in a children’s school playing field? They have also erected a monopole right next to the Cheeky Monkey nursery school Why? Who knew?
We have only recently learnt about all the different lies from the council and government. What else are they not telling us? If there is nothing to hide about 5G why can’t the government or council be open to the people. It’s not fair to put anybody but especially young children in harms way. If these children are damaged in the future who’s going to look after them? If this goes to schools around the country. Everyone is responsible if a child is injured. We as parents and adults are responsible for the young. We have to protect them and have a right to ask questions. Thank you to the 5G team for bringing this to our attention.
The government is being open. There is nothing to fear from 5g technology.
” It’s not fair to put anybody but especially young children in harms way.” Do you drive your children to school?
I cannot believe how uneducated some of you are with regards to the seriousness of 5g masts.
I can’t believe how gullible some of you are with regards to the seriousness of 5g masts. We’ve been bathed in electromagnetic radiation since the Earth was formed. We’ve had even more since Marconi invented Wireless. Do you have a telly? Radio? Wifi router? Mobile phone? Don’t be ridiculous.
Just trying to imagine a 5g mast looking serious.
Who are “the 5G team”?
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