People living near masts are experiencing increasing health problems, especially sleep disruption, headaches, tiredness, behaviour changes in children, epilepsy, nosebleeds, skin complaints (See published research on humans - non-cancer, below).

Mobile Phone Masts

The government received 22.6 billion pounds from selling the 3rd generation licences in 2000, and mobile phone related revenue now exceeds 20 billion pounds per year.

It is also important to remember that by the end of 2007 all Operators were required to install, maintain and provide 3G service where at least 80% of the population live, under the terms of their licenses granted to them by Central Government in 2000. All Operators managed this except O2 who hope to be the end of the summer 2008 (they were up to about 75% at the end of 2007).

We have now written a unit conversion document (with integrated calculator) and an updated international maximum exposure guidance levels document. There is also an excellent memorandum written by Alan Meyer (for Mast Action UK) regarding "Local Government Responsibilities" towards exposure to masts.

Many people do not know how many masts there are near them. There is a government website which has a reasonably accurate map of the masts currently integrated into the national network. Details are only put up when the mast is up and running. OFCOM, which maintains the site, depends on the phone operators to give them accurate information about the base station. They update the site every 3 months (or so). We have found some inaccuracies with respect to the existence, siting and information included on the database - and we have not looked at many places. Do not accept the information as definitive or accurate. The powers are given in dBW - you may need to read our Mobile Phones and Masts book to understand what these units mean in practice.

There is a dispute between the UK Information Commissioner, Ofcom and T-Mobile about whether the full Sitefinder database should be downloadable. Ofcom went to the High Court to stop the British public getting access to a list of every mobile phone mast in the UK. The Regulator is appealing the Information Commissioner's decision that the public has the right to know where all cellphone masts are located.

In September 2007, an Information Tribunal upheld a Freedom of Information request ruled that the public should have access to a full list of every base station in the UK. Though Ofcom argued that this is an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of the network operators, it was told the information must be made available, in addition to allowing people to search small areas as they can now. The information behind Sitefinder is supplied voluntarily, but reluctantly, by the network operators.

T-Mobile hasn't provided any cell information since August 2005, and generally joins Ofcom in court as a representative of the rest of the mobile industry. In the meantime, Ofcom has been holding discussions with operators, which have now resulted in a resumption of voluntary provision of this data. 3, O2, Orange, Vodafone, Airwave and Network Rail all supply data to Ofcom at approximately three month intervals (T-Mobile has refused to do so since 2005). Ofcom will also appeal the decision of the Information Tribunal, and a further hearing in the High Court is anticipated.

Many masts have more than one operator; the antennas have different degrees of uptilt or downtilt; the geography of the area is different; the distance the antennas need to cover is different. Microwaves are reflected off surfaces (especially metal ones) as well as absorbed. The amount of microwaves in an area will depend on things like metal roofs, lamp posts and other structures, building materials and structural additions, cars and lorries, etc. The only way to know for certain how a particular place, such as a house, flat, school or workplace, is affected by environmental microwave radiation is to measure the exposure.

If you live near a phone mast and are concerned about risks to your health, please read our section on reducing your exposure.

Planning Laws

Equipment on masts over 15 metres high, and other limited, special circumstances, need full planning permission. Small additional changes do not need permission. Several companies can share a mast or site. Lower height antennas do not need full planning permission.

When an application for a new mast is made, people have only 56 days to respond. This time limit is very strict and many applications have gone through because the time has expired. It is important to find out as much as you can, as quickly as possible, if you wish to lodge an objection. See our book "Mobile Phones and Masts, the Health Risks".