by Sean O'Hare
seanohare@trinitysouth.co.uk
THERE are 156 mobile phone masts in South Bucks, the Advertiser can reveal.
A further 15 masts, operated by four of the country's biggest phone companies are expected to go up by September 2008.
The information was supplied via South Bucks District Council now that legislation obliges all mobile phone operators to issue councils with their annual 'Roll Out' plans.The masts belong to O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile.
The latest figures coincide with an investigation launched by Buckinghamshire PCT to determine whether there is a link between phone mast exposure and brain tumours.
The investigation was initiated after it emerged that four St Joseph's Catholic Primary School pupils - two current and two former - had developed brain tumours in the last ten years. The Chalfont St Peter school in Priory Road is surrounded by 15 mobile phone masts.
Of the 156 phone masts in the district, two are sited on school grounds. The Beaconsfield School and Burnham Upper School both receive an annual, undisclosed rental fee from Orange for the siting of masts within their respective grounds.
St Joseph's Church was offered £5,000 per annum two years ago by a phone company wanting to site a mast on the church's roof, but the offer was refused.
The Beaconsfield School headteacher Alex Russell said: "There has been much investigation into phone masts over the years and as a school we are aware of them, but as it stands the case is still unproven. Our position is that until the case is proven either way, we will retain the status quo but not expand with further masts. It is for this reason that we refused another phone company's approaches. If there was definitive proof that they were a cause of ill health, we would have it removed. We have had no cases of students or staff suffering from brain tumours."
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