EARLIER this week, the Electoral Commission reported that "the single most important issue arising from the 2001 General Election is the need to address, urgently and radically, the decline in public participation".

That fall is blamed by some commentators on "voter apathy". According to this line of argument, people do not care about politics any more.

The situation is not so straightforward, however. Party politics might have failed to engage the electorate, but single issue politics are motivating thousands of ordinary citizens to take action.

Last year's fuel protests and the countryside rallies are two national examples of people power influencing policies. But it is happening on a local scale too.

The Fulford taskforce mobilised against mobile phone masts is a terrific example. A few households received a letter from the council stating that BT wished to install a 41ft telecommunications tower in their neighbourhood. These unhappy residents copied the letter and distributed it more widely. Suddenly, the council and BT Cellnet are faced with widespread, organised opposition.

The Fulford campaign proves that a community threatened is anything but apathetic. Their beef with BT is not unique. Other neighbourhoods have protested against telecom companies intent on installing masts in their backyards. Fears about the long-term health impact of this technology, allied to the fact that the masts themselves are eyesores, have prompted many an uprising.

Statistics suggest that most of the protesters will possess mobile phones. And many are aware of the anomaly of protesting against the expansion of a technology upon which they are increasingly dependent.

This circle is squared succinctly by one of the Fulford protesters today. Of the masts he says: "I know we have got to have these things, but there must be a better place to put them than in residential areas like this."

Exactly. BT and its peers should devote more thought to where they plan to raise their masts. Unless they are happy to keep picking fights with their community-minded customers.

Updated: 10:22 Thursday, July 26, 2001