****UPDATED 21st OCTOBER 2007****

LAST FEW DAYS FOR LETTERS TO BE SENT

If you have not yet sent your letter of objection to the Diocese, then please DO SO NOW!

Please use the guidelines below or click here for a sample letter. Your letter must be received by the Diocese by 27th October.

Church Submit Official Application

After months of prevarication, the Vicar and PCC of St Peter-le-Poer have formally submitted their application to the Diocese to install a T-Mobile 3G aerial (mast) and base station in the Church Tower.

This gives local residents until 27th October to write to the Diocese with objections.

The route to complain is an archaic and bizarre process, but we urge all of you to write to:
The Diocesan Registrar
The Old Deanery
Deans Court
London EC4V 5AA



You may wish to include some of the following objections:

• Why is this aerial needed when there appears to be no problem with T-Mobile reception in the area? There is a new T-Mobile mast outside the Tesco store on Colney Hatch Lane.

• The proposed installation is just 22 feet from the adjacent block of flats which is not in line with the Stewart Reports recommendation of a precautionary approach

• The playground and buildings of Coppetts Wood Primary School are 180-230 metres from the proposed installation. This is where radiation levels will be highest

• The Code of Best Practice on Mobile Phones Network Development was published by the Government in 2002 and recommends that network operators consult with schools and colleges before an application is submitted. Coppetts Wood Governors should have been consulted and this consultation should have been extended to the parents. As this installation is on Church property, the Code of Best Practice has not been adhered to and the vast majority of parents at Coppetts Wood School are unaware of the proposal to expose their children to radiation

• Coppetts Wood Recreation Ground is just 100 metres from the proposed installation. This is not in line with the Stewart Reports recommendation of a precautionary approach

• In their Statement of Need submitted as part of the application the Parochial Church Council and Vicar state that the extra income that will derive from this proposed installation is needed to help the Church extend its work in the locality. In fact the complete opposite will be the case - the installation will only serve to further alienate the Church from a local community who feel threatened by an institution out to poison them

• There has been no consultation with the groups who meet in the Church Hall. Should the application succeed it is likely that many groups will be driven from the Church on the basis of the perceived risks to health. Rather than the installation allowing the Church to expand the works it undertakes, it will result in a contraction of the people willing to use the premises

• Have T-Mobile considered any alternative sites away from housing?

• Church of England recommendations for Churches which wish to install mobile phone aerials state that there should be full local consultation. There has been no local consultation, and the Vicar and PCC have refused representations from the local community. The Vicar and PCC have refused to consider anything but their own wishes. They have provided misleading information regarding the current state of expert opinion as to the safety of mobile phone installations to the local community and the Congregation. A petition signed by over 800 local people has been completely ignored. By comparison the average Church congregation on Sundays at St. Peter-le-Poer is about 20 people, and hardly any of them live within the immediate vicinity of the Church

• Chancellor Hill, in his “General Directions Concerning Churches & Churchyards” (April 2001) said: “Before granting any faculty, the Consistory Court will need to be satisfied on cogent and compelling evidence from the Parish, that the installation will not pose a danger to health or wellbeing of those using the Church or other property in the immediate vicinity”. There is no compelling evidence that mobile phone installations are completely safe. There is a large and growing body of scientific evidence that suggests that such installations are in fact unsafe. The Government produced Stewart Report stated “We conclude therefore that it is not possible at present to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects”. Therefore, under Chancellor Hill's directions any mobile phone installation on Church of England premises should not be permitted

• The retained architect for the Church is also a Church Warden. Isn't this a conflict of interest?

• Almost all research into the safety of mobile phone installations has concentrated on the thermal effects of the radiation. The Government guidelines are based solely on the thermal effects. Studies that have considered all other effects consistently find epidemiological evidence of a plethora of diseases and ailments, including - but not limited to - cancer and leukaemia. Of the scientific studies on the World Health Organisation EMF Database, 80% show a link between phone mast installations and ill-health

DON'T DELAY - WRITE TODAY

Read more on
1. Scientific Arguments
2. Moral Arguments
3. The flawed 'Consultation' Process