FIFTY residents gathered in the rain yesterday afternoon to protest against the new proposed 5G mast in Cashes Green, writes Richard House.

Over 100 formal objections have so far been lodged against the new mast, including one by Cainscross Town Council.

The rain made adhering to the Rule of Six particularly challenging, but the assembled demonstrators did their best to adhere to social-distancing protocols.

Chanting demonstrators marched from the community centre up to Cashes Green Primary School, where they handed out leaflets to parents.

Finally, a number of speeches were heard, from local residents Rachana Sequoia and Judy Barber, from Stroud District Councillor Skeena Rathor, and from STOP 5G Stroud group campaigners Richard House and Darren Nicks.

Local resident Judy Barber said: “I have been shocked to hear how little people know about this intended mast. We just haven’t been consulted.

"The best question I heard was, ‘Why do we need it?’. I don’t believe we do.

"We don’t need an ugly structure bringing down house prices; we need a precautionary principle to remove the risk of damage to health from untested radiation levels.

"I don’t want to be a tech-company and government guinea pig.”

Rachana Sequoia, organiser of the local campaign group, said: “My young son and I live about 40 metres from the proposed mast. I care deeply about our safety, our freedom, out well-being and the well-being of all.

"Putting the first of a whole network of eyesore 5G masts here, in the middle of our densely populated neighbourhood without due diligence and without multi-agency proof of its safety, is surely a crime against our humanity and our environment. I am passionate to stop it.”

Chair of the STOP 5G Group in Stroud, Darren Nicks, said: “I’m concerned about the intended 5G future with ‘the Internet of Things’ resident in every aspect of our lives, that we could find ourselves in an almost inescapable network of surveillance and control.”

Member of STOP 5G Group in Stroud Richard House said: “Local people have been refused any genuinely democratic conversation about the pervasive imposition of this untested technology.

"The government has consistently refused to carry out independent research on the health and safety status of 5G technology – I wonder why?

"With so much local opposition from a community which is ‘refusing to be guinea pigs’, it’s difficult to see how the council planning department can give this new mast application the go-ahead.”

Cllr Rathor (Stroud Central) spoke of the need for deep listening, respectful engagement and finding ways to transcend crude oppositionalism, even in the face of government-empowered corporations determined to impose this technology.

If you would like to register an objection to the 5G mast, email your name, address and reason for objecting to planning@stroud.gov.uk