COUNCILLORS in Warrington are to meet with phone mast operators to find a way forward on planning applications.

Members of the borough council's development control committee are due to meet with the Mobile Operators Association (MOA) at a specially convened meeting on October 20.

The meeting comes after a number of applications for phone masts were submitted to the borough council - often opposed by nearby residents.

The Mobile Operators Association (MOA) was established in January 2003 to represent the five UK mobile phone network operators (3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone) on radio frequency health and planning issues.

Councillor Judith Wheeler, development control committee member, said: "This has come about because it may be at the moment that we are getting three masts applications from different operators coming in when there could be just one.

"We want to see if there can be a bit of foresight in this. We want to try to find a way forward."