Residents are split over a 12.5 metre high mobile phone mast being built on Shepherdess Walk.
It’s “disturbing for the neighbourhood,” said Julianne Sota, who lives opposite the site. Her main concern is the potential health effect.
“It can’t be good to have that around. It must be doing something,” she said.
Telefonica, the parent company of O2 which is installing the mast, said its stations are being run under “stringent international guidelines.”
“Typical public exposures from our base stations will be many hundreds, if not thousands, of times below these guidelines,” they added.
Despite Telefonica’s claims that the mobile phone base station will blend in with Shepherdess Walk, resident John Williams believes that it will be “an eyesore, certainly”.
Ms Sota worried about the problems caused by building work and asked why the mast couldn’t be put on top of an existing building.
Meanwhile, Charleine Huijts, who also lives near the site, said it didn’t bother her as no objections were raised by the area’s MP or ward councillors. The mast, planning permission for which was granted earlier this month, will provide 3G broadband and should give residents better mobile phone coverage.
Similar phone masts have recently caused controversy elsewhere in North London. A photographer from Hampstead has been especially outspoken against them whilst a church in Kilburn is seeking to raise money by hosting phone masts on its roof.
