SCHOOLS with mobile phone masts on their premises should be giving pupils regular health checks, according to a leading county councillor.

But the call for KCC to force schools to implement health checks has been described as alarmist and unnecessary by ruling Tory councillors.

KCC Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Trudy Dean said the potential health hazards posed by phone masts meant the county council had a duty to act.

She asked: “If we have 14 schools where our children are subject to radiation, why are we not prepared to monitor the potential effects? It would seem sensible to ask governing bodies to assess if there have been any. Not to do so would be a derogation of our duty to children.”

Council health and safety chiefs said their own tests on existing masts showed thermal emissions were well below the minimum level regarded by the industry as safe.

But Cllr Dean said the unknown risks came from radiation pulses rather than the heat generated.

Her call came as KCC was quizzed about its policy on phone masts at a backbench meeting of the council’s Policy Scrutiny Committee.

The issue was raised after a report suggesting that Kent had one of the highest number of phone masts on school of all education authorities in the country.

In 1991, KCC said it would not accept any more masts on its property or land but that policy came after a number of schools had already signed contracts with mobile phone companies.

It now says it will not accept the renewal of any of those contracts, which can provide schools with several thousand pounds in “rental” fees.

Cabinet member Cllr Nick Chard (Con), who was answering questions about KCC’s policy, said it was not realistic for schools to conduct health checks.

“We are nearing the end of these leases and they will not be renewed so it would not be possible in Kent,” he added.