CONCERNED residents who want to stop 5G internet coming to Stroud due to radiation fears gathered at a public meeting on Sunday.

Attended by 180 people, the meeting was organised by campaigners who launched the 'Stop 5G' campaign last month due to their growing concerns about the implications of the new technology.

It took place on Sunday (June 16) at 7.30pm at Lansdown Hall, Stroud, and included a talk from 5G authority, Joe St Clair.

Richard House Ph.D, of the Stop 5G Campaign and co-organiser of the event, said: “If there were ever any doubt that the 5G roll-out is an issue that we have to think critically about, the extraordinary turn-out at this first public meeting has comprehensively dispelled it.

"We all know that the wise people of Stroud are invariably ahead of the curve when it comes to picking up on issues of grave public and environmental concern.

"That nearly 200 people came out on a dank, damp Sunday night to hear about the 5G issue merely confirms our campaign’s strongly held view that we all have a responsibility to engage fully with the 5G question, and to hold our elected political representatives to account for the negative health and environmental effects that 5G seems likely to perpetrate.”

A spokesman for the campaign group said: "5G broadband is coming to Stroud as early as this July without any public consultation or evidence of the health and safety implications.

"There is mounting research evidence from thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers on the subject of exposure to high radiation. This research suggests that 5G frequencies harm all cellular organisms, including trees, plants, insects, birds, bacteria and human beings.

"At the end of our meeting, a vote was held as to whether there should be a halt on the roll-out of 5G technology in Gloucestershire until potential hazards for human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists who are fully independent of the industry and of government.

"The motion was passed virtually unanimously by the audience, and this vote will be cited in the representations that the Stop 5G campaign group will be making on the 5G issue to local councillors at all levels – parish, town, district and county – in the coming weeks."

A follow-up meeting on mitigating the impact and effects of 5G radiation pollution will be held by the campaign group at the Centre for Science and Arts, Lansdown, Stroud, on Thursday, June 27 at 7pm. All concerned members of the public are welcome to attend.

The group has a petition at:

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pause-stroud-and-gloucestershire-s-5g-rollout-immediately