On 18 May the district court of Ghent gave a judgment banning the installation of a phone mast in the suburb of Drongen.
In reaching the verdict, the judge took into account the uncertainty about its effects on human health, accepting that this validates the objection of the plaintiffs, who live close to the construction site of the planned mast.
“The court has now clearly decreed that the authorities have to take account of health hazards and environmental issues, and not only of the visual criteria, when they make a decision about a planning application.”
In its judgment, the court recalled a decision taken by a Justice of the Peace in 2000, who declared: “As long as it has not been scientifically proven that radiation is without danger, it should be considered that it is probably dangerous.”