Bradford & District | Archive | 2000 | February | 26
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Saturday 26th Feb 2000.
Cononley villagers have vowed to fight plans for a mobile phone mast at a local farm.
Vodafone has applied to erect the 15-metre mast in the grounds of Highgate Poultry Farm.
The company states it will serve the area from south Skipton to Cross Hills, including Cononley and Bradley, where it says reception is poor.
A previous application for such a mast near Cononley's Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream factory was refused.
Susan Middleton, of Aireview, feels there may be health hazards.
She says: "It's going up right next to a place where they are producing eggs each week for public consumption. I am very disturbed about this."
She says that over 100 letters have been sent by villagers to Craven council opposing the plans.
Andy Gregory, postmaster at the Cononley's store and post office, is collecting views from villagers.
He says: "There are a lot of people in the village who use mobile phones, but is this the right place to put it?
"There are a lot of places lower down."
Dennis Smith runs the poultry farm, which only produces eggs.
He has given Vodafone permission to use his land. "I don't mind about it," he says, "It's one of those things - everybody has mobile phones.
"If they don't put it there, they'll have to put it somewhere else."
On health scares, he adds: "The people I've spoken to say there's no trouble at all with them - they say there's a lot more radiation from speed cameras than masts."
David Danielli, a spokesman for Vodafone says: "In terms of health issues, there are none."
He states they follow the National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) guidelines.
Mr Danielli adds: "Radio waves travel in straight lines from the top of the antenna. Poultry scrabbling around the base will not be affected.
"The further waves travel from the top of the pole and mast, the weaker and less marked the emissions become. You have to be a close distance from the antenna and there for some time to be in any way affected."
Tim Cooper researches the effects of mobile phone waves on humans at the NRPB.
He says: "You can never use science to prove something is completely safe.
"But we are becoming more and more confident that people's health is not at risk."
Richard Preston, a Craven council planning officer says: "If it's approved, I would suggest painting it green. It would help blend it in with the back drop of the moors. You would only probably see it from the Keighley Road side."
People have until Tuesday, to submit their comments to Craven council.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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