COMMUNITIES across Wharfedale are backing calls for tougher guidelines to control mobile phone masts.

Parish councillors and residents in Bramhope, Pool-in-Wharfedale and Arthington have responded favourably to proposals for telecommunications companies to be subject to full planning controls.

At the moment, planning authorities have very little power to stop new phone masts going up - and can't take account of the health concerns of local residents.

But the Conservatives, scenting an issue which could have widespread appeal, have been running a national campaign to change that and make phone company applications go through the full planning process. And Leeds North West Labour MP Harold Best also believes there is a case for toughening the rules.

Bramhope Parish Council would also welcome changes to the system. Chairman Councillor Colin Robertson said: "I think a major concern that everybody has is that the original legislation brought in behind the phone masts, I suppose anticipating everyone objecting to them on all sorts of grounds, was to 'kick start' them.

"But I believe, as a rising amount of people do, that it is not beneficial for your health to have one of these things very close to you, just as most people wouldn't want a power station very close to them.

"There's still a lot of research to be done on this, but I think everybody should have the right to be able to comment before these masts go ahead, sometimes out of the control of the local planning authority.

"Because it's a very limited remit that planners have at the moment, and health reasons can't even be considered."

Pool Parish Council Chairman Councillor Hazel Lee would also welcome tighter controls, but she points out that the latest mast applications in the village were dealt with adequately by the existing system.

She said: "It's right to not have them beside schools and to not let them become eyesores, because once you're aware of them it's amazing how many you see around."

The Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Leeds North West, George Lee, claims the latest report into the possible risks of mobile phones, by Sir William Stewart of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), supports the calls to 'get tough'.

He said: "The report underlines much that we have been campaigning on for the past six months, during which time we have argued that the siting of masts close to schools and housing areas exposed people, especially children, to too much risk.

"It is vital the Government now takes action to require mobile phone operators to follow the normal planning process before being allowed to put up new masts."

Mr Best agrees that tougher planning controls should apply, but insists the case against masts on health grounds remains unproven.

He said: "They are unsightly, there's no way you can make them look anything other than ugly so there's a good case for banning them from public view.

"I'd ban them from public buildings and reduce their frequency to larger spaces where they aren't so intrusive,

"But I remember the first Stewart report showing there was 'no measurable affect that could be considered threatening or dangerous to anyone's health, including children'.

"I see the second Stewart report doesn't fundamentally change that, but it does raise once again serious questions about the use of hand-held sets, which has been a matter of anxiety for years.

"The arguments we have now are very technical and difficult and not, at this stage, to do with the masts but the hand-held sets.

"What we have to do is not go into scaremongering for fear that we 'cry wolf' just once too often.

"The biggest thing parents can do in the interests of their children is to make sure they don't use mobile phones except in dire emergencies."

Mr Lee, meanwhile, says a consultation process run by North West Leeds Conservatives in the area over the last six months has found many people in favour of his party's plans.

He said: "We have received literally hundreds of responses from local people in addition to responses from Bramhope Parish Council and parish councillors from both Pool and Arthington.

"The responses have welcomed proposals that in their most basic form would require mobile operators to seek full planning consent for masts and would also ban the siting of masts near schools and in the proximity of housing."

Burley residents prepare for battle

Shocked residents are preparing to do battle amid fears that there are plans to site a mobile phone mast at Burley's cricket club.

Opponents of the scheme say they were alarmed to learn that the mast could be sited close to houses as well as a children's play area and a school.

Burley Community Council is considering writing to the cricket club asking for clarification after hearing that an approach had been made by BT to erect a phone mast at the club ground.

BCC member Mike Walker told a meeting of Burley Forum he understood an approach had been made by BT to the cricket club to erect a mast at on the club grounds.

The mast would be in close proximity to Grange Road and Beckside Close, he said, and because of "fairly lax" planning applications, could be as high as 50 feet.

Mr Walker told the meeting he believed the cricket club was interested because it needed money to erect nets. He claimed funding could be available from other sources but the club saw the BT offer as "an easy way of getting money."

Mr Walker pointed to the views expressed in the national press recently by a top government scientist who was concerned about the possible health hazards.

Mr Walker stressed it was an issue everyone needed to be vigilant about.

He added: "The experts obviously perceive that there is a very real risk from these masts."

One resident, who did not want to be named, said many local people were concerned by the possibility of a mast in such close proximity to houses, a school and a children's play area.

Cricket Club Secretary Ian Normington declined to comment on the alleged approach.