ONCE again you report an outcry over proposals for a phone mast, this time at the Abbey Park hotel (October 11), and of course this includes the usual objections over health risks.

It seems the issue of phone masts is creating the biggest case of nimbyism(not in my back yard) of all time.

One only has to see the marketing strategies of the mobile phone companies to realise ownership is at saturation point, the only sales opportunity, apart from teenagers entering the market, is to make us dissatisfied with last year's model and buy the latest device.

Underpinning this mass ownership of mobiles is, obviously, a network of antennae in the areas where people live, work and socialise.

The time has come for those who object on health grounds to form a group of avowed non-mobile users campaigning on the overall issue.

To have a phone in the car glovebox in case of breakdown or accident, but at the same time taking steps to deny an outsider in distress in your area the same amenity, is pure hypocrisy.

Keith Wellburn,

The Village,

Strensall,

York.

Updated: 10:05 Tuesday, October 15, 2002