CAMPAIGNING mothers are petitioning the Government and preparing to meet mobile phone company representatives amid fears over health risks from a planned transmitter.

Residents living close to a Teesside school earmarked for a mobile phone mast in its grounds have also collected a 1,000-name petition in protest at the plan after blockading work on erecting the mast.

Phone company One2One has agreed to meet protestors today in a bid to reassure them about their concerns.

The move came after a series of high-profile cases involving mobile masts in the area. Parents forced Orange to back down from raising a mast at Hartburn, Stockton, which was later refused planning permission.

And Hartlepool Borough Council has responded to public concern by banning phone masts near schools.

One2One was granted planning consent to put the transmitter in the grounds of St Paul's School, next to Northfield Secondary, Thames Road, Wolviston, Billingham.

Although consent was granted seven months ago, building work did not begin until two weeks ago.

But angry mothers and children forced staff to abandon their bid to begin work with a sit-down protest on the field.

Diane Cooke, of Barkstone Close, has three children aged seven, six and three, and is worried about the potential health risk to them.

She organised the blockade and the petition, which she hopes to send to Environment Minister Michael Meacher and Environment Secretary John Prescott. She said: "The health risks of mobile phone masts have not been proved, but there's a lot of evidence that there could be a risk to children's brain development.

"We're not happy to have a transmitter in the grounds of a school. It's the last place for one. There shouldn't be any mobile phone masts allowed in school grounds or near homes."

Stockton North MP Frank Cook has also been lobbied.

One2One representative Gordon Simmons said: "Our policy is to communicate with the public and our potential customers.

"The meeting is due to be informal, to answer their questions and seek to allay their fears and reassure them about their health risk fears over our base station.

"There is no evidence of a health risk."

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