VILLAGERS, including the parents of many young children, are objecting to an application to put a mobile phone mast in the parish church spire on the grounds of potential health risks.
Mobile phone company Vodafone has applied for planning permission to install the mast inside the spire of the Church of the Holy Evangelist, Shipton-by-Beningbrough. A Hambleton District Council planning committee is due to make a decision on February 1.
Martin Sheppard, director of communications for the Diocese of York, said the church welcomed the offer as it would pay general maintenance and running costs, but, he said, it reserved the right to change its mind at a later date.
The majority of villagers at a packed parish council meeting last week were against the proposal, and plan to form an action group and distribute leaflets to all 750 residents in the village.
Although the church put up signs in the village last spring to announce the proposal, few villagers saw them and it is thought that up to half do not know about the application.
Villagers have written to their MP, Anne McIntosh, the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, City of York Council and Shipton Parish Council.
Mother-of-three Emma Buxton sends her children to Shipton Pre-School Playgroup, opposite the church. She said: "A lot of us are worried about the health risks that go along with it, specifically about fears that there could be damage to developing brain cells because children under 12 may be more susceptible."
Residents have seen a recent BBC documentary, called Making Waves, in which Dr Gerard Hyland, of Warwick University, said he felt that pulsed microwave radiation beams emitted from mobile phone masts did have an adverse effect on children.
A spokesman for Vodafone said the proposal was to install a two-cell mast which would fire a signal in both directions up and down the A19.
He said: "The aim is to cover traffic. It is not to broadcast 360 degrees.
"All new applications conform with international guidelines on power emissions."
Updated: 10:06 Saturday, January 20, 2001
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