FEARS over health risks from mobile phone masts have been highlighted by angry residents faced with having one sited near a children's play area.Phone giant Vodaphone has submitted an application to Ipswich Borough Council to put up a 10m-high monopole, with three antennae and other radio equipment, in Sidegate Lane.

FEARS over health risks from mobile phone masts have been highlighted by angry residents faced with having one sited near a children's play area.

Phone giant Vodaphone has submitted an application to Ipswich Borough Council to put up a 10m-high monopole, with three antennae and other radio equipment, in Sidegate Lane.

The proposed patch of land is at the back of Shetland Close and near a small play area.

Two of the close's residents, Terry and Muriel Gooderham, who are aged 68 and 66 respectively, said: “We don't want it and we have sent emails to our councillors - we already have a mast here for the fire station.

“They say there is no proof it's harmful to health, but is there proof it isn't? Why do they want to put it by a children's play area?”

Janet Kippax, 80, who lives nearby in Sidegate Lane and is a homeopathic practitioner, said: “I am not happy with the proposed site, near a play area. There shouldn't be any extra radiation where there are children.

“We have the fire service mast in this area so we feel we have enough in this district.

“I know people want their mobile phones and all the advantages of modern life, but nobody really wants anything in their back yard.”

A spokesman for Vodafone said: “We understand people have concerns about communications equipment but the guidelines to which we comply mean we are all protected, young and old, whether a metre away from the insulation or a mile away.

“The Health Protection Agency has said there's no scientific basis for establishing minimal distances between a mast and an area of public occupancy.”

Do you think this proposed mast should be given the go-ahead? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk