CAMPAIGNERS against a phone mast put up without permission in a village near Droitwich have reigned victorious after councillors refused the application yesterday.

But it was a close call as the application had originally been recommended for approval by planning officers, who had a last-minute change of heart.

Residents in Salwarpe were outraged when they woke one morning at the end of October to find the 18 metre-high mast had been put up without consultation and began writing to Wychavon District Council with objections.

And councillors joined the campaign with district councillor Andrew Christian-Brookes vowing to ditch his Vodafone phone in protest at the company's actions.

At a meeting of the council's development control committee yesterday, Mr Christian-Brookes welcomed the officers' change of hearts.

"I would like to congratulate the officers on being consistent with this," he said. "Another Vodafone mast at Claines, which was also put up without permission, has been served with an enforcement notice and it is good to see that we are standing up against masts being put up without permission."

Planning officers told councillors they had changed their minds about the application because "significant alterations" had been made to the site since their original recommendation.

The generator had been put on the northern side of the mast rather than the agreed eastern side, and it was also considerably bigger.

Fifteen letters were received by the council, with the main objections being that the mast was inappropriate to the landscape, there was no advanced consultation, and that it could be a hazard to passing trains.

Vodafone will now be served with an enforcement notice to remove the mast, although the company will be able to appeal to The Planning Inspectorate against the council's decision.