PRESS RELEASE

TORIES PLAY SILLY POLITICS August 2004

 “The Tories are jumping on every available bandwagon in to recover their slump in support” says New Forest East Parliamentary spokesman Brian Dash.

“A mere matter of weeks after the all party Select Committee had recommended that local planners should be able to stop unwanted ‘phone masts the Tories suddenly come up with a policy. They hope people will not remember that it was the last Tory Government which took the planning powers away in the first place!”

“This is only a week after the Tories were calling for the removal of speed cameras (which presumably catch motorists breaking the law) followed the next day by a call for zero tolerance of law breaking.”

ENDS

Note for editors

During the last year Brian Dash successfully brought a motion to Hampshire County Council to take the matter of Tetra masts up with the Local Government Association.

The LGA are very active in the pursuit of this motion and may have influenced the Select Committee which was chaired by Liberal Democrat Phil Willis.