Liberal Democrats welcome withdrawal of St Luke's mast proposal

12.00.00am GMT Thu 10th Nov 2005

The proposed mast would have been located in St Lukes Church Tower!

Liberal Democrat Councillors in St John's Ward had real issues over the proposed installation of a 3G mobile telephone mast in the tower of St Luke's Church. Following pressure from Councillors Baker and Bannister, along with the local community, the mast proposal has been withdrawn.

Councillor Simon Bannister said "the proposed mast was in the heart of the residential community of St John's. Research has not proved the risk either way, so I cannot sanction any proposal that may put the residents of St John's Ward at risk. This part of the ward is heavily populated; there are families with young children in very close proximity to the church". He went on to ask "did you know that there are 5 masts (built or proposed) along the Upper Grosvenor Road from Dunstan Road to North Farm Lane? Developers tell us there is nothing to worry about from a single mast, but I repeat that to my knowledge there has been little research which considers the effects of a concentration of masts in a given area".

Councillor Alf Baker commented "what happened in St Luke's Church shows that if people are sufficiently angry about an issue, by working together, they can do something about it".