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By Andy McCue, 21 July 2004 13:50

NEWS MPs are calling for a complete overhaul of the planning system for putting up new mobile-phone masts. The move follows a report that concluded operators are ignoring voluntary guidelines on consulting with local authorities.

Mobile operators currently do not need planning permission for masts under 15 metres high but the All-Party Parliamentary Mobile Group said this system favours the phone companies.

Under the current system, operators can assume they have planning permission if they have not heard back from a local authority after 56 days, but they are also supposed to consult with local residents and councils under a voluntary code of practice for the industry.

Phil Willis MP, head of the All-Party Parliamentary Mobile Group, said the committee's inquiry found this is being ignored.

The Mobile Operators Association (MOA), which represents the five UK mobile phone network operators on radio frequency health and planning issues, said local authorities need to work closer with operators rather than introduce new regulations.

Mike Dolan, executive director of the MOA, said in a statement: "Greater planning controls will do nothing to address community concerns. Rather, they would hold up the development of the next generation of mobile networks, to the detriment of businesses and communities alike. It is not the planning system that needs to change; it is the way in which planning authorities work with the industry that needs to improve."

It is not the first time mobile operators have faced opposition to the placement of masts, with vigilantes destroying masts in the West Midlands last year because of fears over the effects on health.