ROTHERHAM Council is raking in tens of thousands of pounds a year from mobile phone masts erected on its property.
According to a new survey the council - which once bitterly opposed the masts - was paid more than £26,000 last year in rental by phone companies.
Today the council revealed it was drawing income from one on the Beeversleigh flats, two at its Oaks
Lane depot, one at Maltby Sports Centre and one in Haugh Road at Rawmarsh.
Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that Doncaster Council is drawing more than £72,000 rental from masts on land it owns - including a number in Mexborough.
A Rotherham Council spokeswoman said: "It is true there are masts on council property for which we are drawing rental. But they are only a small part of the network of phone masts across the town.
"Some masts need planning permission, but others under a certain height can be erected without permission. We haven't had any applications for large masts for some time now."
At the start of the mobile phone boom, Rotherham Council opposed a number of applications for masts, including one next to the landmark Hoober Stand at Wentworth, which was eventually built nearer Rawmarsh.
There was also considerable opposition to a mast next to a school at Thrybergh after parents feared it would be a health risk and Rotherham currently has no masts sited on school premises.
The statistics have raised concerns from green campaigners who fear not enough is known about the effects of the masts on health. Two of the masts in Doncaster are on school property.
Orange masts at Mexborough and Rossington are sited in school grounds though the council stress they are the results of a private agreement between the schools and the phone company, negotiations in which the council was not involved.
Campaigners fear the masts could potentially cause ill-health in the long term, following reports of clusters of cancers elsewhere in the country, despite government reassurances they are safe.
Only three other Yorkshire councils - Leeds, Hull and Kirklees - are known to have allowed more masts to be built on their land.
Green Party spokesman and anti-mast campaigner Stephen Platt said: "I have very real concerns at this news. Scientists are still divided on the health risks of mobile phones and we won't know the real facts until we've had mobiles for a good few more years."
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