SCOUT leaders said they have lost out on thousands of pounds after planners refused permission to put a mobile phone mast at a Kidderminster activity camp.

The Vodafone mast, for Rhydd Covert campsite, would have netted the Kidderminster and District Scout Council vital funds totalling £3,000 a year, they said.

Dave Denton, district commissioner for the Scout council, told the Shuttle/Times & News: "We have been working with Vodafone and it would have provided a regular income for the campsite. There is no problem as far as we are concerned, there are masts like this on Scout campsites throughout the country. It is accepted as the norm."

Plans for the popular campsite, in Kidderminster Road near Bewdley, have been thwarted twice by the planning (development control) committee at Wyre Forest District Council.

The latest application was refused last month because the mast is on protected green belt land, while a previous bid was turned down over health fears. The matter will go to appeal this month.

Mr Denton said health risks, ruled out as a major planning consideration by a 2000 Government investigation, were not proven and the national Scout Association had approved masts on campsites.

He said: "We don't feel we are being irresponsible by following guidelines given to us by our own association and the Government."

Rhydd Covert warden, Mark Woodward, pointed to the fact that council officers had urged the councillor-led planning committee to approve the two mast plans.

He said: "My responsibility is to safeguard the future of the site for Wyre Forest's young people and that is the reason we have taken on this venture with the Vodafone mast.

"If there was any sort of risk then the Scout Association would stop us doing it."

The planning committee threw out the last application for the 10.5m mast, which would replace and look like a wooden electricity pole, on December 14.

Councillor Chris Nicholls told the meeting: "I think the people who are actually proposing this are irresponsible when there is young people who are actually going to use that Scout camp and I think it is a case of money over health issues."