OPPOSITION is mounting in Bere Alston to a mobile phone mast British Telecom is planning to build on the outskirts of the village.

The company is planning to put up a 25m, or 82ft, high monopole mast with antennae and microwave dishes for what they describe as the 'Public Safety Radio Communications Service'. It also plans to build an equipment hut and workshops in a wire-fenced compound on Tuckermarsh Lane.

But Bere Alston is situated in the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the site is not much more than a stone's throw from the local school. Residents fear the combined effects of electromagnetic radiation and radon gas could affect their children's health.

Jim and Susanne Trotter's new home will be right underneath the mast.

'It will be an eyesore and a blot on the landscape for the whole of the Tamar Valley — you'll be able to see it from Calstock and many other places on the Cornwall side as well as Bere Alston, but my main concern is the radiation,' said Mrs Trotter.

'From an 82-foot mast the spread of radiation is 175m — we will be 60m from it and the school only 120m.

'I think it will be dreadful to expose the inhabitants, and particularly the children, to potential future illness — the risk of leukæmia around such installations is well-documented, especially when coupled with Radon, which we have round here.

'It would be a tragedy spoiling a place of such absolute beauty and to risk the health of people round here — it's completely unacceptable and it's appalling even to consider it — nobody would move here and nobody would visit the village with a monstrosity like that here.'

Anne Blithe, who lives near the primary school, said: 'It's in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — this will cause a blot on this very picturesque landscape.

'It's also going to be very close to the local primary school and it has not been proved that radio waves don't cause health problems.

'I would have thought they could find a far less populated area to put it.'

Mrs Blithe was particularly annoyed that the council failed to notify her of the plans.

'I was notified by West Devon when the landowner applied to convert the building there into a dwelling, but I heard nothing this time. I would have thought they should have notified me over something 20 metres high that will have such a significant impact as this,' she said.

Calstock Parish Council, at its last meeting, expressed its concern that an issue affecting both sides of the river had not come before them officially and wrote to both Caradon and West Devon councils.

West Devon planning officer Chris Watson said: 'The important planning considerations will be the visual impact of the structure, particularly with regard to its position within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

'The health issue is a difficult one for us because we get a lot of objections on these grounds, but the advice of the Government is that we can't refuse applications on health concerns because there's no proven health risk associated with masts. If the council were to refuse on these grounds we would lose any subsequent appeal.'

The application will be considered by West Devon planning authority late in May.