PEOPLE have voiced fears that their health could be at risk if plans to extend a radio communication mast get the go-ahead.

BT Airwave has applied for permission to use the existing phone mast at Peterlee AFC, on Eden Lane, to establish a public safety radio communications service.

But the plans are being opposed by local residents, who fear their health will be at risk.

Dedicated to the fire, ambulance, police and other blue light services, the system would facilitate better and faster communications.

In particular, it would significantly improve the services' ability to co-ordinate joint operations by enabling emergency workers to communicate with a command centre and each other.

The proposed system would form part of a national network, and the applicant wants it to cover the widest area possible.

Three antennae would be added to the top of the football club's phone mast, extending it by about 1.3m.

An equipment cabin in addition to those serving Dolphin and T-Mobile, the mast's users, would also be built adjacent to it.

But after the plans were advertised, Easington District Council received a 121 signature petition and 15 letters of objection from local people.

They said they had not been consulted about the mast in the first place and expressed fears that it might pose a health hazard. They also said it was too close to a children's park and a nursery and infants school, and asked for it to be taken down.

A report to the development control and licensing panel, which meets today, denies that residents were not consulted on the mast, and says that even with the antennae, it would not exceed emission standards.

It states: "This current proposal would allow the opportunity of mast sharing whilst providing the level of coverage required for the provision of the new communications service.

"It would appear that the required level of coverage may only be provided at the proposed site."

The report recommends that the plans be approved.