RESIDENTS are mounting a campaign in opposition to plans to install a 40ft mobile phone mast on an estate.

Garden Farm and West Lane Community Association is writing to more than 1,400 people after learning O2 has submitted a planning application to site the antennae on Grasmere Road in Chester-le-Street.

The telecommunications company wants to improve its coverage to customers in the area but local people feel it will be visually obtrusive.

The association is urging people to sign a standard letter of opposition, which will be sent to Chester-le-Street District Council.

Chairman Reg Nelson said: "Petitions don't do any good because it is just a list of names.

"If people agree with our letter and sign it, we will put them together and take them to the council so we can show there is a big bundle of objectors.

"We want the company to think this is going to cause a lot of trouble, so it will look somewhere else."

More than 70 people attended the association's annual general meeting on Monday - three times more than normal - to discuss the proposed mast.

Vice chairman Philip George said people were unanimous in their objections to the plan and the association has already sent a letter to the council.

He said: "They want to put it in the middle of an estate on open ground that people use. It is totally inappropriate.

"The Government has said there are no health risks, and although that is not why we oppose the mast, you cannot be too sure.

"We are also worried it could create a precedent and lead to more."

There are currently 20 mobile phone masts in the Chester-le-Street area and a further five sites have planning permission for them.

The council confirmed it has received an application from O2 and will be writing to residents to seek their views.

A three-week consultation exercise begins on Monday and the matter is likely to go before committee at the end of next month.

A spokesman for O2 said: "We have an obligation to the local community to provide a good mobile phone service. Without masts they simply will not work. We always work with local planning authorities to find the best possible location for our masts.