Residents and parents in Petts Wood are joining forces with a local MP to object to proposals for new phone masts.

Bromley Council has already received more than 100 enquiries about plans to install two 15-metre masts plus antennae, dishes and equipment cabinets, on land at The Stables, Eynsford Close.

The site is close to Crofton infant and junior schools and already has one smaller phone mast, which many parents claim they did not know about.

One Crescent Drive resident, with two young children, said: "I'm very concerned about the health risks, and it bothers me we didn't know about the mast which was installed before.

"The parents I have seen are also very concerned and we all plan to object by writing to the council individually."

Chairman of premises at Crofton junior school, Peter Thompson, wrote to the council, stating: "It is sheer folly to locate this mast so close to our school, a place where the health and safety of more than 700 children is in our care."

Bromley's chief planner will make a decision on the applications at the end of this month.

A council spokesman said: "We have had a higher than usual number of enquiries about these masts."

Orpington MP John Horam has put his weight behind the campaign saying: "I support the residents 100 per cent and I'm telling them to fight, first by getting the council to reject the plans, then, if there is an appeal, by getting the inspectors to visit the site with the residents present."

A spokesman for Orange, one of the companies wishing to erect a mast, said: "We choose sites which meet our technical needs, customers' coverage requirements and which comply with all planning and environmental regulations."

July 10, 2002 16:30