02/02/2010

Father of autistic woman loses High Court fight over mobile phone mast

LETCHWORTH, UK: A man who claimed his autistic daughter's health would be affected by a mobile phone mast in Hertfordshire has lost a High Court bid to stop its erection.

Engineer Alan Cox said he was concerned about radiation from the mast proposed for outside his home in Letchworth.

The court heard that his daughter, 26, suffers from neurological problems following a brain injury at birth.

Rejecting the case, a judge upheld the report of a planning inspector who had found little objective evidence.

Cox, a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, asked the court to quash planning permission for the 33ft (10m) column with three antennae granted by a government planning inspector to T-Mobile UK Ltd.

The court heard the mast would be 78ft (24m) from the family home. Deputy judge Robin Purchas QC added there had been sufficient evidence to support the inspector's conclusion that the microwave emissions would be well within guidelines laid down by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

The case went to the inspector, after North Hertfordshire District Council refused the mast planning permission on the grounds that it would be inappropriate development.

In February 2007, the inspector allowed T-Mobile's appeal against the council's refusal, triggering the High Court challenge.

After the hearing, Cox's solicitor, Richard Buxton, said he was considering whether to appeal.

(Source: BBC News Online, February 2, 2010)

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