THE chairman of Andover Councillors' Forum has given reassurances that phone masts at the grain silo in Weyhill Road are not a danger to children in nearby schools.

At the last meeting of the forum, the public heard a risk assessment had not been carried out on the masts when John Hanson School was relocated.

This week chairman Zilliah Brooks confirmed the situation: "Hampshire County Council has not done a risk assessment on the masts at the grain silo in Weyhill Road.

"But it has done checks on other schools in similar situations and found that there is no risk at all."

In addition the Government recently announced that the UK's mobile phone masts have been given a clean bill of health for the second year running.

The latest study into emissions from mast base stations found no evidence that safety guidelines were being exceeded.

A total of 109 masts were tested by the Radiocommunications Agency during 2002, of which 82 were sited on schools and 27 on hospitals.

Of these sites, the one with the highest emission levels - at Aintree Hospital in Liverpool - was still more than 700 times lower than the maximum allowed under international guidelines.

But not everybody was happy with the situation.

Cllr Rod Bailey said: "It seems to be OK when one goes up but once one goes up they seem to proliferate.

"When so many go up in one area that is the worry, especially in the area of a school."

Mrs Brooks said that children were more likely to be at risk from using their own mobile phones rather than the masts themselves.

And Cllr David Drew said there would no significant difference in emission measurements between one service provider using a site than five.

"They all work on different frequencies and in some cases they will cancel each other out," he said.