Last year the North Mymms Green Belt Society wrote to Welwyn Hatfield Council expressing its, ‘increasing concern about the effects of microwaves’.

Local residents in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter station have complained in the past of hearing music coming from radiators and kitchen appliances and of electronic garage doors and gates opening on their own.

The society asked the council to advise us whether this topic has been raised with the applicant, and what assurances the council may have received on the safety levels of microwave radiation.

The NMGBS wanted to know if there a limit to the concentration of such dishes on this site.

In December the council told the Green Belt Society that all applications conform to the master plan so they have to be approved, subject to unobtrusive positioning of the dishes.

They said the safety aspects were a matter for the Health and Safety Executive and DTI and that the station operators must go through a licensing process, which involves compliance with safety guidelines restricting human exposure to electromagnetic waves as, set down by the National Radiological Protection Board.

The board has indicated that no adverse health effects have been proven as far as their safety guidelines are concerned.

This month there was an application (#2000/904) for another four satellite transmitting dishes.

Two would be 9.3m diameter, one at 6.3m and one 3.8m. All would be placed within the grounds of the BBC Transmitting station on the Great North Road, Brookmans Park, along with the other dishes and the transmission masts.

The Green Belt Society says that because this is ‘in accordance with the Master Plan for the site’, it has no grounds for objection.

Local residents have been meeting to consider the decision and what further action, if any, they can take.

July 23, 2000