A SECOND mobile phone mast is likely to be put up on Tolladine Golf Course.

Vodafone has put in a planning application for a mast disguised as a fir tree to improve its mobile coverage.

It follows criticisms the company received from the city council after it put up a temporary mast without planning permission last year.

Residents in The Fairway, off Tolladine Road, complained because the mast was not disguised and needed a noisy generator to power it.

But the new mast will be some way from homes and disguised as a tree - although it will have a standby generator that will reach 60 decibels at night.

A similar mast, put up by mobile phone company 3, has been on the course for two years.

Floodgates

Warndon Parish Council raised no objection to the latest plans, although member Frank Lauriello warned that it could set a precedent.

"This could open the floodgates so there could be more up there before long.

"What if Orange, for example, comes along and wants to put up a mast?

"It's very important that these things stay in keeping with the environment."

A temporary mast, on the back of a trailer, was put up last November under cover of darkness prompting what Worcester City Council's principal planning officer Peter Yates called an "exchange of views" between him and Vodafone.

The temporary mast was taken away and the new planning application has now been submitted.

The application will now go before Worcester City Council's planning committee for approval, taking into account the views of the parish council and other people affected.