LIB DEMS WELCOME LOCAL SUCCESS AGAINST PHONE MAST NEAR SCHOOL

2.40.00pm GMT Mon 1st Mar 2010

Northumberland Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall has welcomed O2's decision to cancel its plan to put up a new phone mast next to a school in Darras Hall after a meeting between local campaigners and the mobile phone provider which she had helped to arrange.

Speaking after the meeting last Friday, Fiona said:

"I am really pleased that this local campaign has been so successful and O2 has taken local concerns on board and is now actively looking for alternative sites outside the residential area of Darras Hall. This shows how much of a difference a well co-ordinated grassroots campaign can make, and I am very happy I was able to facilitate a meeting between the company and local campaigners.

"I will now be taking forward a number of issues relating to planning guidance, which needs to be changed in order to make it easier to apply the precautionary principle when siting masts."

Andrew Duffield, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman for Hexham, who had met with campaigners to prepare last week's meeting with O2, added:

"This is a really great result for the residents of Darras Hall who have put on such a spirited campaign to make their concerns against the phone mast heard. O2 is right to revise its plans and look for alternative sites outside of Darras Hall."