All Saints Church in Whitefield, Bury, could soon house telephone equipment for communications giant Orange.

Plans are in the pipeline for an 'environmental' installation of the equipment - inside the church tower!

A planning application to install six sector antennas, one 300 microwave dish and other items has already been submitted to Bury Metro's planning office by Orange Personal Communications..

The planning committee will look at them next month and find they will no be a blot on the landscape.

An ingenious plan will see all the equipment tucked neatly into the church's tower with little visible outside the stonework.

A spokesman for Bury Metro's Planning Department said that an aerial view showed that the equipment would be unobtrusive but that the whole matter was still being carefully looked at, particularly as the church is a listed building.

Canon R. W. Warner of All Saints said that the church had engaged architects to examine the plans and that church authorities and English Heritage would have to approve of plans whether or not Orange gets permission from the council.

All Saints is one of the country's million pound churches - churches built to celebrate the Battle of Waterloo. The government of the day donated £1 million for churches to be built all over the country to mark Britain's victory.

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