ONE of the Felixstowe peninsula's best-known landmarks could be set to vanish forever, it was revealed today.For Trimley Water Tower may be demolished, taking away the first sight people see as they come over Seven Hills and a homecoming beacon for decades.

ONE of the Felixstowe peninsula's best-known landmarks could be set to vanish forever, it was revealed today.

For Trimley Water Tower may be demolished, taking away the first sight people see as they come over Seven Hills and a homecoming beacon for decades.

Major telecommunications company Orange PCS Ltd has been told it must remove its mobile phone aerials from the tower, which it was revealed earlier this year has “concrete cancer”.

The company said it had been told the 210 ft high tower is to be knocked down.

But today its fate was a mystery - with its current owners unknown and council officials waiting to hear what will happen.

Trimley St Mary parish council vice chairman Bryan Frost said it would be a great shame if the 71-year-old tower was lost.

“As far as I am aware we have been told nothing yet about its future. I have lived here 42 years and it has always been a landmark in the area - I would certainly miss it if it was no lot there,” he said.

“But if it is a health and safety matter then the powers that be will have to decide.”

Nearby residents said they had been told nothing about the tower's future - with most unaware it was no longer owned by Anglian Water.

One householder said: “I am not surprised that there are problems with the concrete. In high winds, a few small lumps of concrete have fallen off it.”

An Anglian Water spokesman said the company had no use for the tower after it was decommissioned and sold it a year ago, along with some land around and next to it.

The tower in Spriteshall Lane is home to dozens of aerials, bringing in an income of hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, because of its perfect position for mobile phone signal reception.

In a letter to Suffolk Coastal, Orange said it had been unable to extend the lease for its aerials because the tower was “earmarked for demolition”. It had hoped others having to remove aerials would have found one site together nearby but this had not been possible.

Orange now wants permission for an aerial next to the Trimley interchange.