PLANS for a 30 metre high phone mast in Nelson have been turned down because it would look out of place next to a nature reserve.

But councillors were astonished to find that fears about health risks and that radiation could ignite methane gas from the landfill site underneath Quarry Hill nature reserve were not good enough reasons for refusal.

A report by the Government's National Radiological Protection Board this week said children were at risk from emissions from mobile phones.

But Nelson councillors were told by planning officials that health fears were not an acceptable reason for turning down Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd's application for the former Walverden Sawmills site in Brunswick Street.

Nearby residents handed in a petition with 649 signatures protesting against the plans and said they had not been properly consulted about the scheme.

Speaking against the plan, resident Colin Hornby said: "The mast will become the dominant feature, intimidating and obvious. Do we really need to be able to play games on mobile phones?

"Will it add to the wellbeing of the town? Once it has been switched on, it can't be switched off."

Councillors queued up to support the residents' concerns.

Southfield's Coun Sonia Robinson said: "It is intimidating to people and that there is a health risk should be sufficient to turn it down.

"I don't like being in a room with people who smoke and it's been found passive smoking is just as harmful. In the future it may be found we are being harmed by mobile phones. I'm totally against it."

Co-opted committee member Susan Nike said: "Why shouldn't we mention health risks? The damage may not be proven but we don't know, and we should err on the side of caution."

Bradley Councillor Mohammed Iqbal suggested putting a ban on mobile phone masts in Pendle, similar to the one on housing in the borough.

But executive director for services John Kirk said such a move would fail. He said turning the application down on the grounds it would affect the landscape of the area was more likely to succeed in the event of a planning appeal.

Nelson Committee chairman Coun David Foster said: "It will be a hard, alien feature on the edge of the conservation area boundary."