Mobile phone reception in Hay is notoriously bad, and has been for years. I like to tell visitors that it's because Hay is just a little bit skewed from reality, so it's hard for the signals to get through!
Now, though, there are plans by O2 to erect a mobile phone mast somewhere on Forest Road - I'm not sure of the exact site.
The Town Council get all the planning applications, so that they can comment on them, though they don't get to make the final decision. In this case, the Council voted unanimously against the proposal for a mobile phone mast.
Gareth Ratcliffe then went off to the National Parks Planning Committee, of which he is a member, and he was the only person there to vote against the plans. Everyone else voted in favour. Gareth has a Facebook page called Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe's News Updates with more details of the plans and the meetings he attended.
There are lots of health concerns - the mast would be near the school (both the present site and the proposed new site) and the doctor's surgery. People are concerned that there is a cluster of brain tumours in this area, and they don't know what is causing it - could it be radiation from mobile phones?
The National Health Executive says there is no evidence of harm, but this is not convincing the people who are worried.
There are three videos on Hay TV on the issue, interviewing members of the public, and Gareth Ratcliffe and Fiona Howard, which set out what's going on at the moment.
One thing that came out of the videos is that the planning department are supposed to notify neighbours of planning matters such as this - but it seems that the neighbours in Cae Pound knew nothing about it. Gareth is checking up on this, so he can hold the planning committee to account on behalf of the people of Hay.
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3 comments:
Why can't O2 put their mast on the TV mast asbove Clyro - out of harms way?
Thank you for raising this. It seems many of us had no idea about it.
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