Parents Up In Arms Over Mobile Phone Mast In New £9.7m Larkhall Primary School

Feb 23 2012 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

FURIOUS parents are up in arms over a mobile phone mast at a new £9.7million primary school in the town.

They are extremely concerned about the potential risk to children’s health caused by the Orange mobile mast in the grounds of Glengowan Primary School.

Now parents are demanding the mobile phone mast is removed before it causes harm to kids.

But the mast owners quote World Health Organisation reports saying there is no scientific evidence to confirm masts are a danger to the public.

Parents only found out about the phone mast when the 370 pupils were relocated to the new school in Summerlee Road last month. The school has been built on the site of the former roads department depot, a move which has sparked fresh controversy about the phone mast.

The mast was erected in Summerlee Road on July 4, 2002, and became operational the following summer – after furious residents won a battle to stop Orange erecting the phone mast in Hamilton Road.

Hundreds of residents signed a petition opposed to the initial erection of the mast and South Lanarkshire Council gave Orange permission to move the mast to the site in nearby Summerlee Road. Now, ironically, it stands right at the new primary school.

One mum said this week: “It is diabolical this is in a school playground. None of the parents knew about this.

“It is definitely not going to remain there while our children are at school.

“If it is not to be located near residents in Hamilton Road, then it shouldn’t be allowed to remain where there are young children.

“It is too close to where children are playing in the school grounds.”

The town’s councillors share parents’ concerns and want the phone mast removed.

Larkhall Labour councillor Jackie Burns, deputy leader of the council, said: “I was contacted by a parent of a Glengowan Primary School pupil about two months ago and asked if I knew that there was a telephone phone mast on the new school site in Summerlee Road.

“It was put in place there on council land with planning consent in 2002. I have asked for the council to pursue the application and move it to a more suitable location away from Glengowan Primary.”

Larkhall SNP councillor Peter Craig has asked council officials for written confirmation on what they are going to do about the mobile phone mast at the school. He said: “It is far from ideal that this phone mast is now situated in the school grounds.

“If the phone mast wasn’t there before the school was built there would have been no problems.

“I don’t think it would have been accepted.

“But it is much more difficult to get it dismantled now that it is there.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Government guidance does not preclude masts from being located next to schools and, as such, there was no specific requirement for the location of the mast to be considered during the assessment of the new school proposal.

“In addition, no representations were received either through the planning process, or during the consultation with parents carried out by education resources.”

The mobile phone mast was erected on council-owned land in 2003 at the request of South Lanarkshire Council following a series of meetings between Orange, the local authority and residents in Hamilton Road.

A spokeswoman for Orange said this week they have no plans to move the phone mast from the school.

“Orange were not approached by the council before, during or after the construction of the new school.” she added.

“We are quite happy, however, to meet the local authority and school representatives to discuss the issue, but we currently have no plans to remove or relocate the equipment.”

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