COUNCILLORS have slammed plans to site a mobile phone mast 200 metres away from a primary school in Appleton.

The development management committee at Warrington Borough Council has refused the application for O2 and Vodafone plans to erect a mast on Longwood Road, Appleton.

Residents packed into a meeting at the Town Hall last Thursday to consider the plans and some voiced their opposition to the 15m-high mast proposal.

Dave Leadbetter said: “The proposed mast is high. It’s totally inappropriate for a residential area. There are far more remote sites to this one that are available.”

David Hosher, speaking on behalf of the applicants, said the site was the best in the area for coverage.

Clr Brian Axcell (LD — Appleton) questioned whether the site was the most appropriate after a previous potential site on Bridge Lane was also ruled out.

He said: “The mast would be an alien feature. It would be very much higher than the lamposts.”

Residents had voiced their concerns over the plans with the number of children and parents who would walk close to the mast on the way to five schools in the area.

Clr Linda Dirir said: “We had a planning policy that mobile phone masts should not be near a school and should not be near the beam of greatest intensity.

“Being 200m from a school, it would be in the beam of greatest intensity.”

Councillors voted unanimously to refused prior approval for the mobile phone mast.