Telco planning applications must be accompanied by a Declaration of Conformity with ICNIRP Public Exposure Guidelines.

(our page all about the ICNIRP)

Some background here on Vobes: The 5G operators that don’t exist! 1hr 11mins.

The Applicant must be on the Ofcom ECC register in order to apply for prior approval.

The Signatory of the ICNIRP declaration must be a genuine company, and company details must be on the certificate.

It has been discovered that perhaps the majority of applications being made are issuing the certificates in the name of non existent companies. Why might this be ? We can only imagine that since insurers anticipate long term harm from RF exposure they will not insure, and non existent companies are hard to make claims against … (our page about Insurance)

One example : certificate signed in the name of Three UK Ltd – a company never involved in the telecom industry and which was dissolved by Companies House in 2015. In this case the Telco Agent is WHP Telecoms Ltd, signing “For and on behalf of Three UK Ltd”

Local Planning Authorities: another issue regarding ‘competency’

This issue has been brought to the attention of the Planning Inspectorate, who are investigating the issue.

On 7 February 2024 the PI wrote: “… any issues regarding certificates or declarations would be a matter that the Council would have to deal with, as they would need to be satisfied with all of the documents before making any decisions.”

This statement seems to place the responsibility on the LPAs themselves. This is interesting since every time an LPA has the validity of the ICNIRP declaration queried they say it isn’t their job to check them, but Ofcom’s.  They now stand corrected. 

Call to action:

Data has been gathered about 38 recent applications being made under Merton Council, we would appreciate date volunteers to trawl the last 24 months of Telco applications in a few more regions to build up a bigger case file. This evidence supports the EECC objectors rights JR, and other JRs, as well as local approaches to LPAs.

For YOUR local authority: please use this template, and email back to query@rfinfo.co.uk

How to find applications:

Find your local council ‘Planning’ page. Look for ‘Search Planning Applications’.

Go to ‘Advanced Search’, and ‘Application Type’ – Telecommunications.

EXAMPLE:

Click on the Application, then find Application documents, and you will see the ICNIRP certificate file with the data you need.

Add to the XLS sheet, repeat …. job done !!