MORE than a hundred people have signed two petitions opposing a plan to build a mobile phone mast outside a Worcester pub.

Mobile phone giant O2 has applied to Worcester City Council to install a 12.5m telegraph pole with shrouded antennas and a radio equipment housing on Winder-mere Drive, Warn-don, outside the Prince of Wales.

Landlady Glenys Pegg said: "The majority of the feeling from the residents around this area is they don't want it there. The Prince of Wales is the local pub and we are supporting the residents. It would be such and eyesore."

She added that despite only having a few days to gather signatures before the end of public consultation, they managed to get enough names to fill five full sheets of A4 paper, which she estimates contain more than 100 names. Madge Cooper, who lives opposite the pub, has started her own petition to highlight the strength of feeling against the mast.

The 69-year-old said one of her concerns was a possibility that the mast would obstruct the view of motorists as they drive out of Buttermere Drive into Windermere Drive. She said: "I've only just started the petition but every household I have been to so far have said they will sign it.

"I would be able to see it from my lounge. Why stick it in the middle of a housing estate?" Roger Berry, the city councillor for the area, supports the residents. He said: "I do not believe it is the right place for a mast."

Angela Johnson, O2's community relations manager, said: "We do take the concerns of local residents very seriously. But we are in the difficult situation in that people want to use their mobile phones but they do not want the masts that make them work."

She added that people should not be worried by health matters relating to the masts and pointed to a report by the World Health Organisation published in July that concludes that there was no scientific evidence that the mast's had an adverse effect on health.