PROTESTERS against plans to site a mobile phone mast near homes in Padiham are to present a petition to Burnley Borough Council tomorrow.

A meeting at the Kings Arms, Padiham, saw residents turn out in force to listen to campaigner Dennis Cannon speak against the proposal.

A planning application to erect a mast above Albert Mill, Wyre Street, Padiham, has been submitted to Burnley Council by Vodafone UK.

Under current planning law, planning officers can approve the development without it being scrutinised by the development control committee, if the mast is 15 metres high.

But Mr Cannon, chairman of the pressure group Together Against Masts (TAM), intends to fight the application and has written to the council asking it to refer the matter to the development control committee.

The application is for a mast with six antennae and two dishes within a compound.

Mr Cannon said: "We hope to have more than 100 signatures on the petition.

"I think everybody at the meeting signed the petition after hearing the case against having phone masts in residential areas.

"TAM is not just a few people shouting the odds, we now have around 150 members throughout Burnley and Padiham and it's getting stronger each time something like this happens."

A spokesman for Vodafone UK said: "We understand when people do have these concerns.

"I would like to reassure them that our instalment will comply with policy guidelines.

"The phone mast has backing from the World Health Organisation and the government.

"People can feel certain that it will be designed to fully comply with guidelines."

Letters of opposition and the petition will be handed to officers at Burnley Council on Friday morning.