A CAMPAIGN to prevent mobile phone dishes being installed near three schools has been launched shortly after parents lost their battle over a similar development.

Plans to extend an existing mobile phone mast in the midst of a Durham City housing estate have met with uproar from residents.

The plans, lodged by Hutchinson 3G, involve adding five metres, three antenna and two dishes to the mast situated in the car park of the Newton Hall pub, on the Newton Hall estate.

But the Durham city and county councillor for the area, George Hunter, said he had been inundated with phone calls from worried residents, who have already started a petition.

Councillor Hunter said the mast was only a couple of streets away from three schools and a playschool and would be visually very obtrusive.

He said: "We all know we have must have masts if we must have mobile phones. It's a way of life, we have to accept that.

"But there must be some thought as to where these masts are situated, like an industrial estate or wooded area - not in the middle of residential areas when there is so much uncertainty about the health risks."

Coun Hunter said it was ridiculous that these kind of developments were being built in such numbers when the risks to public health were not fully understood.

Last week, parents from Neville's Cross Primary School, Durham, lost their battle to stop three antennae being placed 100 metres away on the Neville's Cross Pub when city councillors approved plans.

They also worried about the effects of radiation that their children could be subjected to.

But a spokesman for Hutchinson 3G said phone masts needed to be so close together because they used low levels of power in response to public concerns about radiation.

He said the emissions from each mast were a small fraction of the universal standards recommended.

The spokesman added: "What we're talking about is radiowaves. We have to remember that radios, televisions, police CBs, all these devices have some sort of transmitter and aerial.

"Mobile phone masts are one small component of the radiowave world."