RESIDENTS have won their battle to stop a mobile phone mast being put up near their homes.

Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio wanted to instal a 15- metre high tower on land at Hineswood Farm, Reades Lane, Congleton.

Local residents objected, claiming the tower would look ugly and would harm the local ecology.

They were also worried about the possible health problems associated with signals from the antenna.

Telecom said the tower would improve its coverage to the south east of Congleton and along the A527 between the town and Biddulph.

The company added it had chosen the site carefully, and claimed that the visual impact of the tower would be ''insignificant.''

Borough councillors refused to approve the siting and apperance of the Telecom scheme because of its impact on the area.

Planning chief Geoff Allen said the mast would extend six metres above the tree line, and the benefits of the tower to mobile phone users were outweighed by the harm it would cause to an area with special landscape value.

''The mast would be clearly visible from the Biddulph Valley Way and a public footpath between Biddulph Road and Congleton Edge Road,'' he said.

''It would be an incongruous feature in attractive and generally unspoilt countryside.''

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.