Mobile phones tend to divide opinion. To some people they are a nuisance, to others a blessing that has transformed personal communications. But there is no disputing the fact that they have had a major impact on life in the last few years. The use of them has spread rapidly, creating a need for more and more phone masts to handle the countless calls made to and from them.

There is a lot of concern about the spread of these masts, with not enough information available about whether or not they present a health risk. Consequently every planning application for a mast brings an objection to it from some anxious local residents and councillors have to take their decisions without having full information available to them or any health guidelines to work within.

So it is good that Bradford Council's environment scrutiny committee has decided to lead the way by becoming the first committee in the authority to hold an official Commission into an issue that isn't directly under its control.

The Commission next month will weigh evidence from a range of witnesses, including representatives of the mobile phone industry, protest groups and scientific and medical experts. At the end of the day, the Commission's findings will guide overall Council policy when dealing with planning applications.

Apart from making the planning councillors' work easier, the inquiry should give the whole vexed question of phone masts a thorough public airing and pull the available evidence together to take us all rather nearer to discovering just how dangerous or safe they really are.