Questions have been raised about whether a mast taller than The Shard planned for Richborough could have a detrimental effect on the health of residents.

Dover district councillor Bernard Butcher raised his concerns at the Sandwich Town Council meeting on Monday.

He said he has been asking the question for years whether telecommunication masts could have a hazardous effect on health.

There have been claims that high levels of electromagnetic radiation from masts could cause health problems such as cancer but this has never been proven.

Cllr Butcher said: “There are a lot of people in recent years where medical problems have come up with regards to mental disability or all manner of problems like that and no one has been able to put their finger on what’s causing it. Is this causing it? We don’t know.”

Vigilant Global UK is behind the proposals for the mast which would be 320 metres high and built at the former Richborough Power Station site, where the cooling towers stood before they were demolished in 2012.

It will be used as a new communications tower for financial traders and its transmissions could reach as far as Germany.

The Mercury also reported last week how the plans could boost work experience and job opportunities for pupils at Sandwich Technology School.

Cllr Butcher, who is also on DDCs planning committee, said: “I would like to know before I agree to this at the next planning meeting whether there is any cause for concerns regarding health.”

There has been no evidence to date to suggest there is a link between phone masts and ill health. A government-backed study in 2007 managed by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) committee concluded that there was no link between the two.

A spokesman for Vigilant Global UK said: “We have made contact with the Sandwich Town Council clerk and have also sent a message to Cllr Butcher and offered to provide any information we can about the Richborough mast application, as we have in response to all questions raised by local stakeholders.”

He said more information would be available once it had been provided to the elected members.