Big demand for mobile phones means more masts will be needed

Wealden Council currently has 270 tranceivers which tranmit and receive the mobile phone signal.

It wants planning rules to be tightened and the Mobile Operators Association agrees more debate is needed.

Kent and East Sussex now have at least 2,000 such base stations with another 500 in the pipeline, according to one estimate.

'Not accountable'

Anti-mast campaigner Clive Newell said: "I think we all accept that mobile phone technology is a part of modern day life.

"But the point is that there is not enough known about the health risks and the masts seem to be proliferating all over the place."

Wealden councillor Jim Hollins is calling on the government to ensure phone companies have full planning permission before masts are put up.

UK MOBILE PHONE USE 79% of UK adults own or use a mobile phone 1997/98 - 9.1m mobile subscribers June 2004 - 55m mobile subscribers Source - Mobile Operators Association

Cllr Hollins said: "I don't think that the council has enough powers to ensure that the masts are built in the correct manner and the correct places and therefore, although we are perceived as being accountable, we are not accountable.

"We are not empowered to decide where these masts should be."

Stuart Eke, spokesman for the Mobile Operators Association, said there were frequent scientific reviews into the health implications of mobile phone masts.

"They've all come up with the same basic conclusions that base stations operating within international health and safety guidelines are not adversely affecting human health.