https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bogus_5g_mast_safety_certificati_12

Here’s an interesting response to this FOI request. Dated 2nd August 2024:

Mr Paul Cardin

[FOI #1147340 email]

Dear Mr Paul Cardin,

Ref: ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS REQUEST EIR2024/01217

Further to our previous correspondence, your request has now been considered and the council’s response is set out below:

I noticed that there is at least one potentially fraudulent ICNIRP safety certificate contained in Herefordshire Council’s planning portal, an online facility which displays details of planning applications and approvals.

A company named “Three UK Limited” – which was dissolved in the year 2015 – has somehow become the signatory for at least one bogus safety certificate (sometimes referred to as a conformity statement) for a 5G telecommunications mast installation.

Using your best and most honest endeavours, please provide:

1. A figure for the precise number of ICNIRP safety certificates related to 5G telecommunications mast installations that have been signed off by “Three UK Limited”, a company that didn’t exist at the time the relevant planning applications were made, and whose declared ICNIRP safety certificates are potentially fraudulent

1. Please see the attached EIR2024 01217 Telecommunication Decisions Spreadsheet. This information can be found in columns F and G.

2. Actual copies of the ICNIRP safety certificates related to 5G telecommunications mast installations that have been signed off by “Three UK Limited”, a company that didn’t exist at the time of the planning applications, and are therefore potentially fraudulent

1. Please see the attached EIR2024 01217 Telecommunication Decisions Spreadsheet. Column A contains the planning application reference for each application.

By using the Council’s planning web search facility via the following link: Planning Search – Herefordshire Council, each application can be searched for.

Once you have searched for and opened the application online, copies of the ICNIRP certificates can be found in the “Relevant documents” section, then under ‘Supporting Documents’ or ‘correspondence’ on the right hand side of the web page.

As this information is publically available and published on Herefordshire Council’s website via the link above, we consider this information to be excepted under Regulation 6 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 because this is available to you via other means.

3. The actual dates of the initial planning applications made for 5G telecommunications mast installations that have been allegedly ICNIRP ‘safety certified’ by bogus certificates, along with the named street locations and identifying nomenclature.

1. The dates of the application, the location and proposal can all be found on the Council’s planning web search facility via the following link: Planning Search – Herefordshire Council. Once you have searched for and opened the application online, this information will be displayed in the “General information” section.

As this information is publicly available and published on Herefordshire Council’s website via the link above, we consider this information to be excepted under Regulation 6 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 because this is available to you via other means.

4. The time period stated in years, months, weeks and days, between the date of the dissolution of “Three UK Limited” (27th October 2015) and the date of the initial applications made for all of the 5G telecommunications masts concerned, having bogus safety certificates, e.g. “8 years, 2 months, 3 weeks and 5 days”

1. This information can be calculated using the date of dissolution of Three UK Limited of 27^th October 2015 and the date on the Council’s planning web search facility via the following link: Planning Search – Herefordshire Council. Once you have searched for and opened the application online, this information will be displayed in the “Application dates” section.

As this information is publically available and published on Herefordshire Council’s website via the link above, we consider this information to be excepted under Regulation 6 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 because this is available to you via other means.

5. Given that the World Health Organisation classifies radio frequency – such as that transmitted 24/7 by 5G telecommunications masts – as a potential Type 2B carcinogen, that the power output of the affected 5G masts is unknown, that potentially a large number of safety certificates are potentially fraudulent, and that tens of thousands of Herefordshire Council residents have potentially been plunged into an unsafe environment, please provide detailed information explaining how Herefordshire Council is planning to restore council tax payers, voters, their children, and Herefordshire Council’s wildlife and domestic pets back to a safe, non-hazardous environment, one which will no longer be a serious, ongoing, potential threat to residents’ health and wellbeing?

1. The Service Area have advised, following initial legal advice the operators that had received approval, but that had submitted incorrect Statements of ICNIRP Compliance, were contacted and advised that they had failed to comply with a requirement of their deemed approval and that were the approved installations deployed then they may be in breach of planning control and liable to enforcement action. This secured a range of responses but ultimately those operators who have benefitted from prior approval acknowledged the error and have issued corrected Statements of ICNIRP Compliance. These corrected Statements have been published to the Council`s website. For the avoidance of doubt, this approach was informed by the one accepted by the Planning Inspectorate in relation to an appeal on Ledbury Road in Hereford. Accordingly all telecommunications development that has been recently approved in Hereford and Ledbury are now accompanied by a correctly certified Statement of ICNIRP Compliance.

Again, for the avoidance of doubt, it is only those sites with prior approval that have been corrected. The greater number of sites that have been refused have not been targeted to correct the Statements on the basis that they will not progress without a further application or via a subsequent appeal. Planning officers who pick up any appeals have been alerted to this and will need to ensure that the potential inaccuracy of Statements is made clear to the Planning Inspectorate.

Through the engagement with complaints on the ICNIRP matter, there has been pressure placed upon the Council to invalidate or rescind the prior approvals that have been granted and also to take appropriate enforcement action.

In respect of the invalidation/rescinding of decision, the legal advice obtained clarifies that the inaccuracy of the Statement of ICNIRP Compliance is not in itself a reason to invalidate the decisions. In effect they remain lawful until successfully challenged through the Courts. In view of the legislative framework which effectively grants the operators a deemed permission, technically enforcement action could only be taken at the point at which the development is carried out. However through the issuing of the corrected Statements there would be no reasonable basis upon which to take such action. In effect where prior approval has been granted, the Council has already decided that the development is acceptable in terms of its siting and appearance and it would not be expedient to take action as the health and safety concerns have been removed by the issuing of the corrected Statements.

We welcome your comments on your experience of making an EIR request to us and would appreciate your feedback to help us improve our service further. Please complete and return the attached feedback form to us at this email address.

For any queries about re-use of the above response please see re-use of council data.

If you are dissatisfied with the council’s handling of your request, you can ask us to review our response. Requests for review should be submitted within 40 working days of receipt of this letter. Further details can be found in the Internal review procedure for FOI and EIR requests. Please quote the above reference number in any correspondence.

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner’s Office who can be contacted as follows:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113                         Website: ICO

Please note that we already publish a variety of information on the council’s website, and in particular in our FOI disclosure log, Publication Scheme, Open Data and Understanding Herefordshire, which you may find of use if you are looking for information in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Ruth Davies

Information Governance

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Further recent 5G bogus safety certification FOI requests:

FOI request to Wirral Council

FOI request to Manchester City Council

FOI request to Liverpool City Council

FOI request to Cheshire East Council

FOI request to Cheshire West and Chester Council

FOI request to Colchester City Council

FOI request to Sefton Council

FOI request to Knowsley Borough Council

FOI request to Bradford City Council

FOI request to Sheffield City Council

FOI request to Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council

FOI request to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

FOI request to Leeds City Council

FOI request to Wakefield City Council

FOI request to Kingston upon Thames Borough Council

FOI request to Watford Borough Council

FOI request to East Riding of Yorkshire Council

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According to the Companies House website, Three UK Limited was dissolved in October 2015, eight years before this conformity statement was issued.

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