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David Miliband MP
Minister of State for School Standards
DfES
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
Westminster
London
SW1P 3BT
14 May 2004
Dear Mr Miliband
You were considerate enough to respond to Jane Philips, Chair of the National Association of Governors and Managers, on the issue of TETRA mast installations near schools. Thank you for your clarification regarding the siting of these masts and reiterating the Best Practice of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister regarding the requirement for consultation.
You may be aware from my response to NAGM, that many of these installations take place under Permitted Development and that planning applications and consent are thereby avoided. This clearly is not good enough, since a mast with new antennae presents exactly the same harm as a new mast with new antennae.
You may be interested to note that on many occasions O2 Airwave has not consulted or sought consent from governors or parents where their installations clearly project their beam of main intensity onto school grounds and buildings.
I attach replies from two schools in Petworth indicating this state of affairs. The same is true in Littlehampton (especially Connaught County Junior and Arun Vale Infants), where 'Parents Against TETRA' is a group of mums formed in defence against this controversial technology. Their own local survey indicated a clear pattern of adverse health. Also attached is a very typical story from Coventry. All of these schools, governors and parents, seem powerless even to require the implementation of Government best practice.
This is a shameful state of affairs, deserving of investigation across the country. It is no consolation that Ofcom has assessed every site for compliance to ICNIRP guidelines for exposure, since this is increasingly regarded as an inadequate assessment for exposure to pulsed microwave radiation and its non-thermal biological effects. The right to consultation and consent must be upheld.
Ultimately we might query the paradox that whilst there is clear guidance for reducing risks to children during their 6 hours at school, the same children can return home to 8 hours play and 8 hours sleep in even closer proximity to the same masts, with no respite or recourse to defence. And TETRA transmits 24 hours a day, unlike mobile phone masts.
As a Chair of Governors, as a parent of two school age children, and indeed as someone who personally suffers adverse health reactions to TETRA masts, I do encourage you to pursue this matter with full diligence.
yours sincerely
Andy Davidson
Chair of Governors
— School Worthing
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