Jan 31 2007 By Emma Pinch
Jasper Carrott

He is one of the Midlands funniest – and richest – men. Yet he doesn't own a microwave on health grounds.

Now, Jasper Carrott is prepared to be labelled a nimby after a "connections box" put up at the end of his garden turned out to be a 50ft rail telecommunications mast.

Next month, Carrott – who said the Network Rail mast had been erected without the knowledge of residents – will head to Westminster to meet MPs and scientists to find out more about the potential dangers of the structures.

The masts, which are being rolled out across the country's railway network to provide better coverage between drivers and signallers, are in response to averting another Ladbroke Grove accident. They do not require any planning permission.

Carrott, who lives in Darley Green, near Dorridge, Solihull, said: "I'm in the same position as everyone else who finds a huge mast at the bottom of their garden.

"I don't know how dangerous they are or if they are at all. I'm not a scientist, I can only read and try and find out. But there are 2,200 going up around the country and no one seems to know anything about them."

The mast was erected to the north of Chessetts Wood Road towards the end of last year. In October Carrott, who made his debut in The Birmingham Post rich list this month at number 48 with an estimated £50 million fortune, received a letter from Network Rail contractors asking if they could use his land to install a "connections box".

Despite assurances they would leave the land secured, contractors repeatedly left gates open, he claimed. On the third occasion, the family asked the contractors to leave.

"Before they left they told us they would have been gone by the next day anyway because the mast would be up by then," he said. "It was the first we knew about it.

"We were concerned firstly because of having a 50ft mast at the bottom of the garden –and secondly because of the ramifications of radiation being pulsed out 24 hours a day.

"I've always been aware of effects of radiation – we've never had a microwave for example – and the danger from electrical pylons, but all this takes time to filter into into public consciousness."

When he "delved deeper" on the internet, he found substantial amount of research claiming to link phone mast radiation with damage to health, including cancers.

"When I found out these masts had to be every four miles, I thought, what's going on?" he said. "No one knows about them until they've gone up.

"If you talk to Network Rail they say they are very open about the process. But it has only been when I've insisted that they've informed everyone around me.

"The local council is powerless," he added. "But if you put a 13-foot pair of metal gates on your drive for security, the council is down on you like a ton of bricks."

Carrott feels so strongly he plans to travel to London for the meeting on February 22, to hear renowned US scientist Dr George Carlo address MPs and Sir William Stewart, UK Health Protection Agency chairman.

"Everyone should be concerned as to the possible dangers but the general feeling is, 'it's all being done and it's all safe'," he said.  "What do I know? I'm a comic from Birmingham. But I'm on the receiving end of one of these masts and I need to know more for my own peace of mind."

A spokesman for Network Rail said they had contacted Warwick District Council before building the mast.

"After he (Mr Carrott) raised concerns about a site near Dorridge we stopped work and examined the possibility of moving it. Any move could only take it closer to people’s home so we therefore continued construction but first we wrote twice to local residents."

Caroline Spelman MP (Con Meriden) has been battling for the law to be changed to require Network Rail to seek planning permission for their masts.

"It is currently is very harsh on residents who can find their homes blighted by masts being put up behind their property without warning," she said.

# Jasper wrote to Network Rail to find out where sites of the masts along the Snow Hill to Leamington were planned. They are as follows

* Snow Hill Station – Network Rail is in consultation with the city council on where an appropriate site might be

* Small Heath – mast not built yet but site earmarked on Anderton Road. No residential buildings close by

* Solihull – south of Princes Wayon, not built yet

* Dorridge – built, to the North of Chessetts Wood Road

* Lapworth – built, to the north of Dicks Lane, Rowington. It was relocated after complaints from neighbours

* Leamington Spa – not built, sited close to the station car park. It was moved to ensure it was further away from homes and the height of the mast was cut by 10 metres

Completion of all these masts will take place by April, and Network Rail said the total could rise to eight or nine