WESTERN BUREAU – Councillor for the Granville Division Michael Troupe says he will move a resolution at next month’s meeting of the St James Parish Council to bar the local authority from approving cell sites in residential areas unless members of the community give the project their blessing in writing.

“I am going to move at the next council meeting that the council should not (approve) any more cellular site locations until they can prove that they have educated the citizenry in the communities, and it should be backed up by signatures,” the councillor said.

He was reacting to Monday’s protest in Granville, a community on the outskirts of Montego Bay, against the construction of a Cable and Wireless cell tower in the densely populated district.

At the time, Phillip Hamilton from Cable and Wireless’ public relations department defended the company’s actions and pointed the finger at state authorities who have the final say in granting permission for the cell site to be built.

When a site is to be constructed in any area, he said, the telecommunications company has to be granted approval by the parish council as well as the National Environment and Protection Agency (NEPA).

“Cable and Wireless, like any of its other competitors, does not act in terms of going ahead and carrying out any construction unless approvals are given by the respective planning authorities, including NEPA and the parish council,” Hamilton said.

But that was not enough to allay the residents’ fears about the possible health risks associated with having the tower so close to their homes.

They were particularly concerned that the cell site was being constructed on property – owned by Cable and Wireless – located beside a basic school and day care centre.

“Pertaining to the tower, which is right beside our school, it is against the health of our children, and I am very much against that,” said principal of the Rodlyn Fisher Basic School Elaine Brown-Heath.

“I would like the persons who put it up to consider the children and remove it.”

There has long been controversy over the health risks associated with placing cell towers in residential areas. The companies erecting the towers usually rattle off statistics that downplay the harmful effects while residents who oppose the construction usually rattle off their own contradictory set of data.