Around 80 people attended a meeting in Winchester this week to prepare for Orange's phone mast appeal.

The four-day appeal hearing, later this month, will give a final decision on whether the telecom company can erect a phone mast in Byron Avenue, Winchester.

City councillors, Ray Pearce, Ray Love and Geoff Bennetts, were among those who attended Tuesday's meeting to hear members of the Action against Byron Avenue Mast group speak about the campaign.

They said £7,400 still needed to be raised to meet the £20,000 target for legal fees.

The public were urged to register on the first day of the hearing if they wished to speak.

Following controversy over the timing of the inquiry - during school half-term - the action group also told parents that they were allowed to bring children provided they were quiet.

The inquiry, to be held in the St John's Rooms, Broadway, Winchester, will start on Tuesday, October 29th.