Opponents of 5G branded ‘cranks’ by councillor

A councillor has hit out at anti-5g protesters as “paranoid and delusional cranks” trying to “halt technological progress” in Bath.

Plans to upgrade a mast in Lansdown were refused in December due to the visual impact after hundreds of residents voiced concerns about the “unknown health impacts” of 5G.

More than 130 people have since objected to another proposed mast just 60 metres from that site in Charlcombe Lane, again with many raising health concerns.

Councillor Grant Johnson, pictured, accused the opponents of spreading “misinformation” and compared them to “anti-vaxxers” critical of the Covid19 vaccine.

Public speaker Martin Grixoni said the decision to refuse planning permission and the subsequent backlash was damaging Bath’s reputation.

The former Conservative election candidate told Bath and North East Somerset Council’s meeting on January 21: “That push against science is not clever, especially when we’ve got a pandemic on.

“I’m concerned we’re being ridiculed in the national press. This has to be harmful.”

He said the decision had prompted criticism of the council in the media, with parliamentary gossip site Guido Fawkes accusing Bath MP Wera Hobhouse of “fanning the flames of the tinfoil hat brigade” after she objected to the plans partly on health grounds, and the Guardian saying the council had endorsed “raging fantasies about 5G phone masts”.

In a question to Mr Grixoni, Cllr Johnson asked: “At a time when the world is having to deal with the very real issue of anti-vaxxers when faced with a worldwide pandemic, do you believe that it is acceptable or even appropriate behaviour for anti-5g protesters to try and halt the progress and technological advances in the telecommunications industry based on the spread of misinformation from a small but loud group of paranoid and delusional cranks?”

Mr Grixoni, who stood for election as a Conservative candidate, agreed, saying: “The overall difficulty is you’ve got some councillors and indeed the MP are a slave to that very loud but small minority, and are therefore not representing the needs of a 21st-century city.”

Cllr Tim Ball, the cabinet member for planning, said there are already permissions for 5G masts in Bath, including in Twerton and at the Royal United Hospital, so it is “quite widely spread already”.

Council leader Dine Romero pointed out that the planning committee was separate from the administration.