The family That’s, Dad David, Mum Rachel, Son David 14 year old, Daughters Charly12 years old , and Nicole 7 years old

I thats Dad, had a serious heart operation few years ago in England at Papworth Hospital Cambridge, every thing went well and l have recovered from that operation.

I was told to take life slower and enjoy my family growing up, so we set upon the idea of moving to France for the sun and the slow way of life and also knowing that they had a good healthy life style.

We found a house in a little sleepy village called Saint Papoul, it's about 300/400 houses, a Bar, Shop, Butchers, Bakers,

We went and met the Maire a Mr Henri Ourliac on several occasions for an informal chat about the village and surrounding area, all was very nice, we were told by people he was a very good Maire and very trustworthy, he was very excited about us bringing a new family to France and more income to the area.

We found and house on top of a hill to the village near the water tower ( they are under ground in a mound of soil ) we spoke to the owner a Mr Juve he seemed very pleasant and said that he had raised his family here and they have now flown the nest and he and his wife wanted to down size.

So we did what we were told and arranged for a meeting with the Maire to discuss our children’s needs for Health and Education, and that we were going to sign for the house the very next day

We met the teacher for our youngest daughter with the Maire an English speaking young lady called Bethany (we later found out she works closely with the Maire and the Abbey)

We asked if there was any thing we should know about the area and especially around the area near where our house was sited, the Maire through his English speaking friend said there was nothing go on near or around our house and this was a protected area (ie a no building zone)

We told the Maire about my medical reasons for coming to his village to live, and also my daughter Charlie who suffers from very bad Migraines, we had to have her cat scanned to make sure she did not have any tumours or anything like that. They came to the conclusion that she was susceptible to brain pressure and that causes the Migraines..

So the day arrived when we left England and came to France, it was great, my boy went straight into the football team, our girls made friends in the village and they all settled into their schools, we Mum and Dad got invited to all the various functions that happens in a small village area, we felt very excepted and happy.

Then the nightmare happened

We came home after picking the children up from school to find on land around the water tower a notice stating that the Maire had given his permission for a 20 metre high Orange Telecom mast to be erected about 65 metres from our front door.

Well we just could not believe this was happening to us, so we went straight to the Maire and asked what was going on, he said that he had given Orange France Telecom the ok to erect this mast one day before we had the meeting with him and asked if there was anything we should know concerning the house and area before we signed for it.

He laughed and said that if we did not like it we should move.

This has all happened in the last three months that's from 31/03/04 to date.

We have now got an action group together and are trying to stop this construction it will effect about 20/30 houses directly. The problem in France is that they are not as aware of the dangers as we are in England, they don't seem to get the information, the government seems to control it with Orange and Voda Phone very tightly, the French really do not think there is any danger at all from these things.