KINSON councillors, residents and traders have pledged to fight any plans to put a telecommunications mast and substation in the area’s war memorial garden.

The idea of siting telecommunications equipment at the front of Kinson village green, next to the library, has been slammed as “offensive” and “completely inappropriate.”

It was only last November that a war memorial was unveiled on the green and councillors say a lot of time and effort has been put into making the area a community focal point.

They were alerted to the prospect of the green being used as a telecommunications base when chartered surveyors Sinclair Dalby made contact and sent them a letter and drawings outlining their proposals.

Cllr Amedeo Angeolini, a Conservative councillor for Kinson North, said: “I personally do not have a problem with a base station going up in the vicinity of the proposal, however the Kinson community, Kinson Business Forum and local councillors would find this specific location to be particularly offensive to what the community in Kinson is trying to achieve.”

He has invited Sinclair Dalby to visit the area and try and find a better location but as yet has had no reply.

Fellow Conservative councillor Mark Battistini said: “They clearly haven’t given it enough thought.

“There’s every chance it will end up as an eyesore on the village green and that will undermine all our efforts to try and make this area a focal point.”

And Bob Wright, chairman of Kinson Business Forum, said: “Businesses would be opposed to this idea. We use the green for events, like the Christmas and summer events, and we have plans to use it even more frequently in the future.

“It would be a blot on the landscape.”

Labour councillor Dennis Gritt said he believed the plans were to site the equipment on the pavement, rather than the village green. But he warned: “That has been a fully registered village green since 1947 and I would fight any proposal to build on it.”

Efforts to speak to anybody at Sinclair Dalby were unsuccessful.