A PLAN to erect a 29-metre high communications mast at Calstock Station has raised concerns with parish councillors.

A meeting will take place at the site tomorrow (Friday) between Network Rail and Calstock parish councillors to find out more about the proposal.

Council chairman Dick Hoile said the mast was very high and would be right in the middle of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and visible to most of Calstock.

'Network Rail is erecting these masts all over the country and three have gone in the Glynn Valley recently,' he said.

'No planning permission is needed —they can just do it, but if we meet with the company and we are not happy, we can see if it can be put somewhere else.'

In the Looe Valley a campaign has been started to try and stop a mast at Sandplace Station but construction is already underway. Residents are angry because they claim they were not consulted.

Network Rail has permitted development rights and therefore has no duty to consult, but a spokesperson said this week that the company does engage the local authorities and councils anyway to get prior approval.

'We also aim to get in touch with residents, if there are any within 200 metres radius of the installation,' said media relations manager Mavis Choong.

'Our preference of location is always to choose a remote area that is well screened and still provide 100% signal coverage. However, this is not always possible because of the typography of the railway line.'

The new masts being installed across the country will allow direct and continuous communication between train drivers and signallers, considerably improving safety, reliability and punctuality for all passengers, said the rail company.

In the Looe Valley, Network Rail is taking extra steps to repaint the equipment green so that it blends in better with the surroundings.

An upgraded communication system was a key recommendation of various reports into rail incidents, including the Cullen Report into the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster in 1999, in which 31 people died and more than 520 people were injured, which specified that there should be one system of communication between the train driver and signaller.