News reaches us that several Isle of Wight County Councillors have called in the decision made under delegated powers last week, to abolish the ban on mobile phone masts being mounted on Council buildings.
The decision to abolish the ban is intended to increase revenue for the IWC.
The decision was called in by Cllr Chris Welsford with support from Cllr Reg Barry, Cllr Jonathan Bacon and Cllr Colin Richards.
The Councillors’ view is that the decision was made without adequate consultation with the relevant stakeholders and partners including the public.
A statement on behalf of the four Councillors reads “This decision has potential to inflict substantial financial damage on the Isle of Wight Council, should the effects of mobile phone masts be subsequently proved to be hazardous to human health and legal action is taken by employees or members of the public suffering the ill health consequences of exposure to the effects of masts situated on council property.
“There has been little or no opportunity for public debate and comment on this highly contentious decision and elected representatives have had very limited opportunity to get involved in a full and informed debate on behalf of their residents.
“Evidence that other major institutions have adopted a more cautious stance which acknowledges the possible future financial risks of litigation, has not been taken sufficiently seriously in our view. We have seen no proper calculation and quantification of the possible future financial consequences of this decision.”
The intention of the decision being called in is for the moratorium to be retained.
We’ll bring you more when we hear it.
Image: timo_w2 under CC BY-SA 2.0
