ONE of Lancaster's most famous historic buildings could soon be home to a mobile phone mast.

The Priory church, close to the famous castle and a key landmark on the city's skyline, is the subject of a planning application from mobile phone operator One 2 One.

The firm wants to replace an existing flagpole at the church on St Mary's Gate with a 'dual purpose telecom antenna'.

Castle ward Cllr Jon Barry says the application will be fought. He added: "There have already been two mobile phone masts passed in the last month in Castle Ward -- one at the cricket club and one on the Lune industrial estate.

"For the Priory to be applying for a mast with potential serious health dangers on an historic building is almost beyond belief."

However, One-2-One spokesman Gordon Simmins said that because the new mast would be identical to the existing flagpole the visual impact would be greatly reduced.

The church would be receiving a rental for letting the site to the company. He added: "Reducing the environmental impact of our masts is one of the biggest challenges we face as a company."

The company is keen to use existing buildings rather than looking to greenfield sites in order to improve services to its customers.

At present, Lancaster City Council's policy is to treat each application for a mobile phone mast on its merits.

Applications will only be put allowed to go through where the applicant demonstrates that the apparatus is sited to minimise, as far as is practical, the impact on residential amenity, nature conservation interests and areas of high quality landscape.