Wiltshire Times 20-05-05

PEOPLE power has forced a mobile phone firm to think again on the siting of a 15-metre mast on a Trowbridge estate.

O2 wanted to put the mast on land opposite Wiltshire College Trowbridge, but protestors said it would have been 10ft away from an 89-year-old woman's flat.

Residents on the College estate presented a 369-name petition to O2 but were told the firm did not need planning permission.

Two representatives from O2 met ward councillors and Derek Adams, chairman of the College Road Residents' Association, on Friday.

Mr Adams said the firm agreed to re-think the location of the mast and were in negotiations with Wiltshire College to put an antenna on one of its buildings instead.

He said: "The people who live in the flats are over the moon as they would have been the ones looking at the mast 24-hours a day.

"This solution is the lesser of two evils. We have won the battle, but not the war."

Mr Adams said the residents committee would decide if the solution was acceptable at a meeting tonight.