FIRE
AND PUBLIC SAFETY SELECT COMMITTEE – 15
MARCH 2004
TETRA
MASTS AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT
REPORT
OF THE Head of Consumer Protection
REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE
CONSIDERATION
The Council has been
presented with a 1600+ signature petition against the TETRA mast in Ryde. The petition reads:
“We
fear that emissions from the Tetra mast on Ryde Cinema may damage the health of
residents and workers in this densely populated area.
We
understand that the mast will operate continuously, but that no long term tests
or trials of the health effects on human population have been conducted.
Residents
in inner Ryde are already suffering serious anxiety and stress about the well
being of themselves and of their vulnerable children.
We
consider that this Tetra mast should be decommissioned until it is proven that
the emissions are not harmful to the Public Health, Safety and well being.
We
hereby petition the IWCC to take whatever immediate actions are necessary to
fulfil their duty of care to citizens of Ryde by terminating operation of this
Tetra mast”.
This report is
directed at providing Select Committee members with information to support
policy formulation that reflects community concerns associated with TETRA. It is anticipated that several organisations
will be represented at the meeting to give views and help provide guidance.
1. The Select Committee may wish to acknowledge that a secure radio communications network is an essential tool needed to assist the Police, security and other emergency services to control crime, terrorism and related law and order issues.
2. The Select
Committee may wish to acknowledge that there are many Island residents who have
health fears, either real or perceived, provoked by the proximity of TETRA base
stations to their homes.
3. The Select
Committee may wish to invite the Chairman and or the Portfolio Holder for Fire,
Emergency Planning and Consumer Protection to write to the Minister of State at
the Department of Health, and the Local Government Association, to report on
issues raised by petitioners and others to the Council on a perceived lack of
leadership at a national level to adequately address public health fears
whether they be real or perceived.
4. The Select
Committee may wish to invite Airwave MM02 as operators of a TETRA network on
the Island to review with Council officers the location of TETRA base stations
and, having regard for the precautionary principle, determine the implications
financial or otherwise associated with the relocation of those situated in the
most sensitive areas and report back with findings as soon as is reasonably
possible.
5. Other courses of action as identified
by the Select Committee may be appropriate.
BACKGROUND
TETRA is the acronym
used to describe terrestrial trunked radio, a digital radio system designed for
use by the emergency services across the UK.
In the case of the Isle of Wight, TETRA has been installed predominantly
for Police use.
The Council’s
Environmental Health Service (part of Consumer Protection) has received
inquiries from local residents seeking advice and information about possible
TETRA health risks. Environmental
Health Officers, understandably receive inquiries about a wide range of health
matters. On many occasions responsibility
falls to Environmental Health, on occasions however responsibility falls to
other bodies. Information for both the
general public and others is available from the National Radiological
Protection Board. A representative of
the Board has been invited to attend the Select Committee meeting. The Council’s Environmental Health Service
has no enforcement responsibility in relation to TETRA.
It could be argued
that public health concerns are fuelled by a lack of knowledge and mistrust of
governments based on historic records of addressing real or perceived health
risk.
In April 1999 the
then Minister for Public Health Tessa Jowell established an Independent Expert
Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP). That
Group under the Chairmanship of a Professor Stewart published its findings in
May 2000. The Group had been directed
to consider present concerns about the possible effects from the use of mobile
phones, base stations and transmitters.
The Stewart Report
concluded:-
“
the balance of the evidence to date suggests that exposure to RF radiation
below National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) and the International
Commission Non/ionising Radiation
Protection guidelines do not cause adverse health effects to the general
population”
The NRPB has recently
published a further report entitled Health Effects from Radio Frequency
Electromagnetic Fields. The report
confirms that £7.35m has been allocated to a mobile telecommunications and
health research programme.
Independently the Department of Trade and Industry is funding three
other projects and the Home Office has separately provided funding for TETRA
projects.
On 28 January there
was a parliamentary debate about mobile phone masts. The Minister of State at the Department of Health responded to
MP’s questions. A transcript of the
debate is attached as an appendix. The
Select Committee’s attention is drawn to references to the Isle of Wight and
the ministerial response to questions raised.
A mountain of
information has been published about TETRA in recent months, much of it
technically complex. This parliamentary
debate however captures public health concerns and demonstrates clearly that
this is far more than an Isle of Wight Issue.
The Council has made
representations to government on behalf of local residents. On 29 January 2004 the Leader of the Council
wrote to Mr Iain Clark in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister about TETRA
highlighting public health concerns. At
the time of writing this report no reply has been received.
RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES,
STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
This report focuses on health issues and does not directly attempt to address challenges that have been made to the Council’s planning decisions. The Councils Planning Officers have given assurances that heir actions authorising the roll out of TETRA on the Island have followed national guidance in all respects.
CONSULTATION PROCESS
Ryde Tetra Action Group and others who have raised health
concerns relating to TETRA have been advised about arrangements for the Select
Committee’s Scrutiny Session and are expected to attend. Officers have attended meetings with
concerned residents. The Council has
explained its position with regard to TETRA with press releases.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL,
CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
None directly, in the
short term other than associated with officer time.
APPENDICIES ATTACHED
House of Commons
debate incorporating Statement of Health Minister, Rosie Winterton to House of
Commons 28 January 2004
BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION
OF THIS REPORT
Web Sites: Mast Sanity, NRPB
Hansard Debate 28
January 2004 NRPB Press Release TETRA 31 July 2001
NRPB Reports Health effects from Radiofrequency
Electromagnetic Fields
IWC Press Releases re TETRA
Contact Point: Rob
Owen, Head of Consumer Protection, F 823388
Email
[email protected]
ROB
OWEN
Head
of Consumer Protection