A PACKED parish meeting has heard West Moors residents vent anger over an application to put up a mobile phone mast nearly 80ft high in the village.

At Fryer’s Field Pavilion villagers flooded in to make their views on Vodafone’s application known to a meeting of the parish council’s planning committee.

Committee member Cllr John Bartley said the recommendation to refuse the application, for a 24m mast on a field near Station Road, had been unanimous. “The main issue is the proposed location on green belt land. A previous application to build a stable block there was refused for that reason,” said Cllr Bartley.

The objection of West Moors Parish Council means the application must now be considered by district councillors – and not by council planning staff.

Retired printer Ken Paine, of Queens Close, said he expected district planning chiefs to register the views of West Moors people when making the final decision. “If they’re genuine in their stated desire to protect the green belt, and are doing their job correctly, they’ll say no to Vodafone. If they don’t, they’ll have a fight on their hands,” he said.

Chris Micallef, the spokesperson for the West Moors Anti Mast Action Group, said residents were pleased with the outcome of the meeting.

“It went extremely well, especially considering how few people have been notified of the application by the district council,” she said.

“We know that the district councillors can’t consider the application on health grounds, but they must consider the green belt.

“They have elections coming up and they must consider the views of ordinary people,” said Ms Micallef.

A provisional date for consideration of the proposal has been set by the district council for May 19.