Plans to build two 5G masts have been approved by the council despite health concerns.

The application from telecommunications company EE to replace two 17.5m towers with larger towers to enable 5G use was approved by Reading Borough Council (RBC) on Wednesday.

Hundreds of scientists worldwide have raised concerns over the potential health impacts of 5G.

RBC’s Planning Applications committee unanimously backed the proposals at on September 4.

Councillor Josh Williams questioned if the council should be looking in more detail at 5G concerns.

Councillor Emmett McKenna, chair of the committee, said there would be more detail on permitted development rights for 5G at next month’s Planning Applications meeting.

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Permitted development rights allow developers to make certain changes without the need to apply for planning permission.

EE will build a 20m lattice tower on the corner of Acre Road/A33 Terranova site, replacing the monopole that is currently there.

The company will also build a new 20m monopole to replace the current 17.5m monopole at Junction 11 on the south side of the M4.

Public Health England has advised that there is no convincing evidence that radio wave exposures below the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guideline levels cause adverse health effects.

The guidelines apply to exposures at frequencies up to 300 GHz, well above the maximum few tens of GHz frequencies anticipated for use by 5G systems.

EE is initially rolling out 5G on spectrum in the 3.4GHz range, which it says  is very similar to its 4G, 3G and 2G services, which operate between 800MHz and 2.6GHz.

The company says 5G is being rolled out within International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines and no health risks have been established from exposure to the low-level radio signals used for mobile communications.

Boyd Butler, a conerned Reading resident, in July asked the council’s Planning Applications committee to delay the roll-out of 5G.

Mr Butler told the Local Democracy Reporting Service “the impending roll-out of 5G in the UK means that people are going to be bathed in a soup of powerful electro-magnetic radiation, the likes of which have never been tested for safety”.

He added: “There are hundreds of scientists worldwide who are calling for testing before any roll-out of 5G, as the implication for human health and environmental damage are mind-blowing.”