Parents protest over 5G

A couple living in Stronsay have pulled their children out of school and are teaching them at home, due to concerns over a 5G technology trial currently under way in the island.

Today’s front page in The Orcadian describes how Russell and Naomi Bremner, who farm a herd of buffalo in Stronsay, pulled their children Dorothy, 10, Wilbur, 9, and Martha, 7, out of the school, such is their concern over the 5G trial, which has seen a mast fitted to the school building.

The Stronsay trial is being undertaken as part of the wider 5G RuralFirst initiative — exploring the potential of 5G to improve connectivity in remote and rural communities, which currently have little or limited access to broadband and mobile phone networks.

While the Bremners acknowledge that the community was informed about the coming trial, they claim that parents were never asked for their views.

“My family is my world, and I would never forgive myself if I looked back later in life and asked myself could I have done more to protect them,” Mr Bremner said, five weeks on from removing his children from the school in protest.

“The community in Stronsay were told this was coming, they were not asked if they wanted it. There are some folk on the island that think it’s the most amazing thing in the world, but there are also folk like me that would like to see evidence that there are going to be no additional health risks to my children by the mast being placed on top of the school,” he added.

Read more including Orkney Island Council’s response in The Orcadian.