FARNHAM'S anti-mobile telephone mast campaigners have been given the opportunity to confront mobile technology giant Orange about its controversial plans to site masts in Farnham. Waverley Borough Council held a development consultative forum last Thursday which enabled local campaigners to consult with Orange and the council about possible planning sites for masts in the town. Up until now, local protesters have fought a long and bitter battle against Orange over proposals to site masts on land nearby residential areas in South Farnham and nearby the Bourne Infant School on the Frensham Road. Only at the end of September did Orange bow to the public pressure and withdraw proposals for masts at the school and on land near to residential areas at Abbots Ride and Manor Gardens. Yet although alternative plans for these sites are currently being considered by Orange, local campaigners fear that the mobile technology giant will renew efforts to site masts near to homes and schools should their alternative plans fail. Representatives from the Manor Gardens Masts Action Group, the Abbots Ride Masts Action Group, the Bourne School Mast Action Group and the Bourne Residents' Association presented their views to representatives from Orange, the Health Protection Agency, and to local councillors as well as MP for South West Surrey Jeremy Hunt. The dialogue at the forum centred on the protesters' view that masts must be sited on high ground where possible, and away from residential areas and schools. Campaigners also voiced their frustration about current planning legislation that prohibits them from appealing against planning applications for masts on health grounds. Ray Cuckow, a co-ordinator for the Manor Gardens Masts Group, was pleased with the progress made between residents groups, Orange and Waverley Borough Council at the forum. "The Manor Gardens Group presentation set out the evidence clearly," he said. "We are pleased that Waverley is working with the community to find a solution that involves the minimum number of masts, sited away from homes." This positive appraisal of the forum was also supported by a spokesman for Orange who said: "We felt it was very productive and we hope it has given people a clearer picture of what we are trying to achieve. It is obvious we still have a great deal of work to do and we have every intention of keeping the community informed throughout the whole process." Local MP Jeremy Hunt has pledged to continue his support for local campaigners. "I intend to continue to campaign as vigorously as I can on phone masts wherever their operators plan to site them," he said. "For me, mobile telephone masts are a simple matter of democracy. Residents' voices must be heard on this issue and the planning process seems to give them far too little weight."
