There's a comment on the last post I did about the mobile phone mast, which says that the mast has been built. So I went down to Forest Road yesterday (in the rain) to see if I could find it and take a photo.
I went to where I thought it was being built, near Hendersons - and there's nothing there. So I went further up the hill, and found a vantage point where I could see down across the surrounding countryside - and I'm blessed if I can find it.
However, there have been further developments while I have been on holiday. It seems, for instance, that there is now a pro-mast group. Apparently they are working to find a site for a phone mast which is more than 500 metres from the school but within 800 metres of the Hay Festival site, so that Festival goers will have coverage without a temporary mast being erected just for the period of the Festival. They say that:
"EMF have now agreed to fund an Independent Measurement Survey which will measure the level of radio frequency before and after the mast goes up and with and without the WiFi being on in the school. Presently Powys County Council does not have the facility to make these measurements."
I have to say that it was news to me that Hay School has wi-fi on the premises - I know I've been out of education for a long time, but I can't think why they need it.
Apparently, Brecon Beacons Planning Group have apologised for the lack of consultation in this case, and say they are going to review their processes so that it never happens again. They should have informed the school and local residents as well as the Town Council (all of whom voted against the planning proposal for the mast).
Peter Limbrick and the anti-mast group don't want to help to find another site - they have pointed out that O2 are a big company with lots of money and they can do their own research if they want to.
And meanwhile at the school, parents have been given a questionnaire to fill in to find out their views - but very few have been returned.
On 6th February, there will be a public meeting of the Hay Together group, at the Parish Hall from 6.30pm to about 8.30pm.
This is just the sort of thing that the group has been coming together to look at - issues that affect all of Hay and the future development of Hay, with all sorts of different groups that already exist in isolation coming together to find solutions that will work for everyone (or at least as many people as possible!).
*[edited to add that the "pro-mast group" isn't pro-mast at all: see the comments below. I think there have been some behind the scenes disagreements.]
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The school wifi is useful as it means the school can have a network to store files on that can be accessed in different rooms without having to be tied down to a wired network socket.
It offers flexibility for the teachers and means computers/laptops can be moved around without having to be disconnected or the wiring re-done.
I can't help wondering if the people who are involved with Hay Fest have kids, and if they do, do they go to Hay School, and how they feel about the mast? Or any of the many permutations? Me myself, am a bit passed it and don't live thatside but if my kids were still at school I know whose side I'd be on.
Just for clarification; the emails from Peter Limbrick labelling a group of parents as a Pro-mast Group was unfortunately quite misleading and is purely his own assumption and label. Clare Hickman was one of a group of parents wanting to gather to discuss the mast and the school and in the shadow of the hopelessness about there being only a slim chance of stopping it, they decided that maybe something that they could do was to seek out some land that is as far away from the school and housing as possible whilst still able to serve the town as 02 are wanting. Whilst many do not want the mast at all - and we must still fight to find anyway to stop it and educate our community about all the risks - this would be one single last hope of control if the commendable efforts of the Stop the Mast group unfortunately fail and it all goes ahead. To leave it up to 02 or Festival organisers to find a site away from the school will probably only lead to it ending up near the housing where the children from the school spend the other half of their day. A group of concerned parents will much better put effort into finding the most distant site. When the risks are discussed it seems to all be focused on cancer, and then GP's will be informed that there are no studies to sustantiate that (yet), but there are many more issues of health that are reported occuring in those living in proximity to masts and no-one has yet done official studies on them, but, insomnia, fatigue, cognitive disturbance, general malaise, headaches, dizziness, depression, anxiety, lowered immunity are just some of what people are experiencing. This could cause great detriment to the community if this is allowed to happen. Please everyone check for yourselves before making judgements about any 'groups or factions, everyone with ideas to resist the mast is valuable to the cause and we must all come together on this
http://youtu.be/AEOcB7Svhvw
Dr Magda Havas from Canada - world expert - 52 minutes long but watch it to the end and you will see the truth about masts.
why not put the mast in/by the festival site?
Information for Ed and anyone who wants to know about Wifi in schools:
http://youtu.be/6v75sKAUFdc
At 8 minutes into video the Doctor states that the UK has the worst safety guidelines in the world and that the saftety limits are 100 times lower in Switzerland and Russia!!
@ Ed davies - Wired stations in each room of a school would not reduce the flexibility of going from room to room, and unplugging an ethernet cable to take to another station takes a fraction of a second. The classrooms are not that big and ethernet cables are easily run around a room with sockets at any likely table that may be sat at with a laptop.
@Organic Bull - the festival site is just across the road from three estates housing a dense population of children, adults and older people so still not ideal. Temporary masts put up for ten days a year may be the most acceptable compromise, but local residents know which providers already supply this area and can cope fine without another, we shouldn't have to bathe in the mast's shadow 365/24/7 to mainly benefit festival goers.
Please be clear that the Hay Together public meeting on Wednesday 6th is NOT about the mobile phone mast. It is a meeting to feed back on the work we've done in the last few months, to plan together for the future and to look for new members of the Steering Group. The mast is not on the agenda.
@anonymous
"...we shouldn't have to bathe in the mast's shadow 365/24/7 to mainly benefit festival goers."
Quite right. You should pass your comment to Peter Florence. Tell him to put the mast somewhere fundamentally appropriate.
Russia has consistently had much lower guideline levels for everything from chemical pollution to nuclear stuff. But you have to observe their actual record on these things to see the truth.
One "world expert" trumps how many hundreds of other "world experts" ? How is this - presumably there is zero trust in government scientists which is sad as they are very sincere in what they do.
I sympathise a little with anyone who refuses to let their child have a mobile phone but if they do allow them at all then the electromagnetic radiation from the phone far outweighs that from the mast as it is so near to them. Genuine (government !) concern about this has been expressed officially and there are guidelines on use for children.
Ellie - sorry if I gave the impression that the Hay Together meeting was about the mast. I was just thinking that it is the sort of forum where issues like the mast can be discussed among a wide range of interested parties.
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