PEN and paper are to be the latest weapons in a campaign against an Otley telephone mast - claimed to be a potential health hazard.

Councillor Nigel Francis, who is leading the fight against the mobile communications mast, urged anxious residents at a public meeting to write letters of protest.

Coun Francis (Ind, Danefield) suggested at Tuesday's meeting at Otley Civic Centre that residents contact the shareholders of the Wharfedale Farmers Auction Mart, off Leeds Road, where the mast is being built to find out if they are aware of the risks.

He also encouraged residents to lobby Leeds City Council to say that there was no thorough public consultation about the mast.

He claims that only one sign informing residents that the mast was to be erected was posted - on a two foot high pole and on private land.

Coun Francis said: "The first stage is to write to them saying we object to the mast and put it through their door. We have to let the council know that one poster on private land is not acceptable".

Adam Pritchard prospective Conservative candidate for Leeds North-West, who is backing the campaign, also pledged to request a meeting with the mobile phone company One to One, which put up the mast.

He also told the residents he would take their comments to Archie Norman, Shadow Spokesman for Environment, Transport and the Regions, who was concerned that radiation emitted from the masts might be dangerous.

Mr Pritchard said: "Mobile phone masts are both an eyesore and a health risk. There is a body of evidence to suggest that they cause short-term memory loss, learning disorders, sleep problems, anxiety and increased levels of leukaemia. This is particularly acute in children.

"We are not calling for the banning of mobiles or the masts, but I am certain, that people deserve proper consideration and consultation in the siting of masts. This mast should have been sited far further from homes than currently."

Residents claim that they are frightened for the health of their children and that property values are dropping in the area.

Andrew Ingle, of North Parade, said: "I live opposite the mast and it is the last thing I see when I go to bed and the first thing I see when I get up. Radiation is radiation no matter how you look at it. We should go the shareholders of the auction mart and say we're having it taken forcibly down."

Catherine Hurst, of Albion Street, said: "Our son is five weeks old. When it's in your back yard the first thing you think is let's get out of that house. We are so disturbed that it has been put up I would go tomorrow and put our house on the market and I do not care what price we get for it."

Councillor Phil Coyne (Lab, Otley and Wharfedale), who sits on Leeds City Council's area planning committee, said after the meeting: "We are not empowered to stop these masts. There were two notification signs posted and had I received dozens of objection letters I could not have done a thing. The masts are not subject to normal planning applications.

"I insisted that it was moved from the end of Pearson's Buildings where it was originally proposed and assured that it was at a maximum distance from houses. I hope they are successful. I do not think it should have been posted in the vicinity of houses."

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