Parents, teachers and pupils at a Maldon primary school are threatening court action to fight a proposed phone mast.

Mobile phone company Orange want to place a mast about 100 metres away from All Saints primary school in Highlands Drive.

The district council has said the application "was not necessarily valid" after a row over how well the community were consulted.

The phone company claims that it sent letters consulting the community in the area where the proposed phone mast will be placed, but councillors, the school and residents claim they have received nothing.

All Saints School is now working on a campaign and hopes to take the application to court to get the decision reversed.

Campaigners believe the mast, which will be sited on a water tower, poses a threat to the health of the children and elderly residents.

Mark Jackson, Maldon planning officer, said: "The application was not necessarily valid in how the community was consulted, but Orange is challenging that."

Published Thursday March 4, 2004

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