Mobile phone masts will not be placed on top of lamp-posts in Castle Point until a report on how safe they are is published.

That's the pledge of Essex County Council's highways committee after it decided to back the stand Castle Point Council made against the plans put forward by telecommunications giant Orange.

The company wanted to attach six masts to lamp posts in Somnes Avenue and Link Road in Canvey.

Castle Point Council's planning committee would not give the go-ahead to the Orange idea because it was concerned about the effect on residents health.

However, mobile phone masts are classed as permitted development by the Government and can be built anywhere - with permission from the council - if they are under 15 metres high.

However, Essex County Council's highways committee put a block on the plans because the lamp-posts are on the highway and the county council has a say on what can be put on roads.

Dennis Williams, Labour councillor on both Essex County Council and Castle Point Council, is pleased the county council has supported the borough authority.

He said: "The county has said it will not give the company permission to install the micro cell equipment on the highways until it has received all the information from a Government report on the safety issues of mobile phone masts."

Mobile phone companies say the masts are safe and they are only trying to meet customer demand.

Nick Sharples, of Orange Personal Communications, said: "We need to build masts to provide our customers with coverage for their phones.

"We try to make them as inconspicuous as possible and the masts we want to build in Castle Point are very discreet."

Attaching mobile phone masts to lamp-posts is not a new idea. Last June, Southend Council approved similar proposals for 11 lamp-posts across the borough.

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