DALES villagers are gearing up to stop a mobile phone mast being erected in one of the most picturesque parts of the North-East countryside.

Leaders of the campaign, Brian and Pauline Shieldhouse, believe the 15m mast would blight their idyllic retirement home at Cowshill, Upper Weardale, in the heart of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Communications company One2One wants to site the mast 50m from their couple's home, on farmland owned by their neighbour Geoff Robinson.

Mr Robinson's wife, Judith, represents Cowshill on Stanhope Parish Council, but did not attend a meeting in December which discussed the application.

Her colleagues agreed to pass on residents' concerns to the planning authority, Wear Valley District Council, and ask them to consult experts on health and environmental issues.

Last month, Durham's Euro MP Stephen Hughes lobbied the European Commission for research into the potential health risks of radiation from the country's 22,000 masts, which phone companies say operate within national and international guidelines.

Mrs Shieldhouse, 53, said she and her 69-year-old husband fear for their future.

She said: "We are very concerned that our health will progressively deteriorate and the knowledge that this will happen will destroy the quality of what remains or our lives.

"On top of that, we feel utterly trapped as who would want to buy this house?

"Other people in Cowshill are behind us but the situation with the Robinsons is difficult.

"We feel they could have told us more about what was going on."

Further down the dale in White Kirkley, near Frosterley, retired headteacher Eric Draper and his partner Jan Pattinson are objecting to another application from One2One.

Stanhope Parish Council clerk Valerie Harrison said: "These masts are springing up like mushrooms in the dale.

"There are a lot of concerns about the close proximity to residential property."

Wear Valley District Council is taking landscape advice before discussing the Cowshill bid on January 24.

Neither Mr and Mrs Robinson nor One2One returned calls from The Northern Echo