Is the base station a danger?
It is common to hear of protests about mobile phone transmitters being objected to by local residents. 
They may well have a point. It is hard to describe the masts as works of art, and the short-circuiting of planning laws meant that masts went up without notice all too often.
There are more about than you'd think
The reality is that there are lots more mobile phone bases than you realise.
Some are disguised as trees or flagpoles, or hidden in shop fascias. There are companies that specialise in such things. For example, see this BBC News web page (the firm in question's own web site is well hidden at present!).
Unfortunately, the mobile companies can't win, as instead of getting complaints about how ugly their masts are, now they are being accused of being underhand because they are concealing them!
Is there a danger?
Leaving aside the beauty or otherwise of the things, are they safe? The short answer is "Yes", in that there is no evidence that they have any effect at all. The trouble is that there is no way to prove that there is no effect, because there is nothing to observe!
There are strict guidelines about the permitted signal strength that people can be subjected to, and the base stations used in the UK don't even approach the safety limits. As long as you do not stand directly in front of, and within about one foot of the antenna, you are OK.
In fact very near a transmitter is a bit of a dead spot, where the signal may be at its lowest!
But do the masts meet the standards?
In 2000, the Radio Authority (RA) surveyed signal levels at 18 sites where people had expressed concern about the radiation levels, and reports that "The maximum exposure at any location was 230 millionths (0.023%) of the NRPB investigation level, or 1800 millionths (0.18%) of the ICNIRP reference level. The exposures are therefore well within guidelines and not considered hazardous."
There are plenty of examples of reporting about this subject that give a very different view, such as this BBC Scotland program. There seems to be a good deal of confusion about the reasons for the objections to the masts. The visual intrusion and "possible long-term health risks" from "radiation" are typically intermingled, and it passes on unverified research results as accepted fact.
What about near schools?
Balancing this "risk" against the very real rental income that the owner of the site will get (often around £6,000 to £12,000 per year) it is hardly surprising that many organisations are happy to host them.
Schools in particular benefit from this income, but councils are under pressure not to allow bases on or near schools. The actual maximum signal levels measured in RA surveys of schools are vastly below the accepted safe limits, typically between 1/1500th and 1/100,000th of the limits. For details of the survey results, see here
See also [ Microwave Radiation ] : [ Safe To Use? ]
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