FURIOUS neighbours are desperately fighting to halt a 50 foot telecommunications tower from being erected at the foot of their gardens on Rainhill Recreational Club grounds.

They fear the tower could pose health hazards especially with so many kiddies in the area.

When a planning application was submitted for a larger tower two months ago, residents got up a 200 name petition which was sent in to St Helens Council's planning department.

That initial application was subsequently withdrawn but now residents have received notification from the council that Orange Personal Communications Ltd now intend to erect a smaller tower and compound, which does not require planning permission.

One concerned mother-of-two children (aged six and four) from Deepdale Drive, Rainhill, whose house backs on to the field where the tower would go, said: "Over the last year or so there has been a lot of publicity about the effects of mobile phones and the telecommunications masts on health and we are obviously concerned for our children's health.

"We don't want to have this mast anywhere near our houses and I hope good sense will prevail and the mast will not go up."

The notification sent to the Deepdale Drive residents stated: "The council is currently considering the above application, which is not an application for planning permission but, instead, is termed a 'prior notification'. Consequently, the council cannot object to the principle of the development, but rather can only comment on its siting and/or design."

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