A MOBILE phone mast nearly 80 feet high could be built in a residential area of West Moors.

Communications giant, Vodafone, has applied to East Dorset District Council (EDDC) for permission to put up the 24-metre mast on a field near houses at Kings Close, Queens Close, and Station Road.

Now angry villagers are planning to pack their village hall tonight (Thur 7) to have their say on the application and send a warning to district councillors.

“I saw a piece about the application in the Daily Echo and thought it was a ridiculous idea. I showed my neighbour the newspaper, and he couldn’t believe it,” said retired printer, Ken Paine.

“The field is surrounded by houses in Queens Close, Kings Close, and Station Road – it will be seen from miles around.

“Although the government says there’s no danger to health from phone masts, we’re still concerned about the risks to our health from radiation,” said Mr Paine.

Neighbours Brian Shephard, Dennis and Iris Blissett, and Sheila Wilcox, backed Mr Paine’s opposition, raising their own concerns over health, amenity, and corporate profiteering at the expense of community safety.

Simon Dixon, a partner in the town’s Dixon Kelley estate agency, said that although the mast would not affect property prices, it would “decimate” the visual amenity of the area.

A commercial property developer would stand no chance of gaining permission to build on the land, said Mr Dixon, adding that it was designated as green belt and was home to wildlife including badgers.

A spokesman for Vodafone said the company recognised the concerns held by West Moors people over the proposed base station, from which the firm plans to offer 3G mobile broadband services.

“All of our base stations are designed, built, and operated within the stringent international guidelines laid down by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

“The adoption of those guidelines has the full backing of international bodies such as the World Health Organisation.

“Typical exposure to our base stations would be many hundreds, if not thousands of times lower than those guidelines,” the spokesman said.

District and parish councillors, and the government’s environment quango, Natural England, had all been consulted before the application was made, the spokesman added.

Mike Hirsh, the head of planning at East Dorset District Council, said Vodafone had provided a compliance certificate from the ICNIRP and that planners could therefore not object to the application on health grounds.

But other planning matters, pertinent to any proposal, would be considered by planning staff as part of their assessment, he added.

A public meeting of the planning committee at West Moors Parish Council starts at 7.30pm tonight (Thur 7) in the Pavilion at Fryers Field, off Bond Road.