Sa Pobla school council calls for removal of mobile antenna

Members of the Council believe that the health of pupils and staff at the school is being put at risk by exposure to the antenna's electromagnetic rays. A spokesman claimed that the antenna has not been granted an operations' license although an agreement was signed between the telephone company and the local town council back in 1999. The spokesman furthered that the antenna was costing the municipal treasury 8'000 euros a year.

He added that the School Council wanted to make it quite clear that at first, the antenna was fitted with four radio links and that now it has nine.
The Council and Parent Teachers Association have both said that there had been opposition to the antenna since the school was built in 2007. “The Mayor met with representatives of both groups in 2008 and said publicly that he would have the antenna moved to a site away from the school, the local sports stadium and residential areas,” said the spokesman.

Both the School Council and the Parent Teachers Association are now claiming that the matter has ceased to be of importance to the local authorities. “It's no longer a major item on their agenda,” said one member.

A study undertaken in 2008 on the radiation emitted by the antenna said that the level of waves was acceptable and that they “did not constitute a threat to the children,” but the groups are still insisting that even though the emissions might be weak, children are much more vulnerable and are being exposed to radiation seven hours a day.

Meanwhile, Sa Pobla's Mayor, Joan Comes said that the transfer of the antenna is still “very much on the agenda” but that paperwork still needs to be completed on reclassifying the land behind the cemetery on which the antenna is to be relocated. The Mayor added that technical reports had, in any event, confirmed the antenna was not a threat to health because it was in fact only a receiving antenna.