Mast campaigners set up watchdog

Mobile phone mast campaigners in the South have formed a new watchdog group to monitor planning applications.

Members of the newly-formed Wessex Registry of Active Masts have vowed to keep an eye all new mast locations across Hampshire, Dorset and Surrey.

MPs, councillors and school governors have signed up to be kept informed.

Organiser Karen Barratt, who led a campaign against a mast in Winchester, said the group would be "a much stronger watchdog than any individual".

'Improved consultation'

"This is all about communication. We do not want to be kept in the dark about where current masts are sited or where future masts may be required," she said.

"We will not be telling anyone what they should do. If people want to raise objections to any specific site it is their choice but they are entitled to be properly informed and consulted."

The group holds a list of campaigners, politicians and community leaders to whom it will send out details of any new mast applications it is told of.