ELTON residents are celebrating today (JUne 27)following a decision by Bury councillors to reject plans for a huge telecommunications tower near their homes.

Mobile phone giant Orange submitted plans for a 56ft tower to be built on the Camp Street Industrial Estate.

But planning bosses threw the application out on the grounds that homes in the area would be blighted by a huge pylon.

Orange submitted a previous application to build the tower which was also refused.

Residents living around the industrial estate sent a petition and letters of complaint to Bury Council.

Their main points of objection were:

The mast would be an eyesore visible from Pilling Street, Camp Street, Redford Street, Harvey Street, Walshaw Road and Leigh Lane. Some residents would be able to see the mast from inside their homes.

Residents have made every effort to beautify their area and the tower would spoil the environment.

The chosen site is close to a church and Guardian Angels RC Primary School.

Building the tower in a residential area would set an unwelcome precedent in Bury.

The tower would devalue properties.

Medical evidence supporting a link between telecommunication installations and serious illness.

Pilling Street resident Clare Hargreaves, aged 25, said: "We are very happy with the decision which came as a surprise because we thought planners would approve the tower.

"But one of the residents invited councillors into her home on a recent site visit to show them what the view would be like if the tower was built. I think this had a big impact."

Planning officers recommended that the tower be approved but councillors decided that it presented a serious risk to residents' amenity and was an intrusion on their local landscape.

But councillors also warned that towers under a certain height can be built without planning permission.

Orange are set to erect telecommunications equipment at the Hilbar Plastics site on Wolsey Street in Radcliffe.

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