A NEW telecommunications mast aimed at giving rail travellers improved reception for mobile phones has been temporarily grounded amid fears that it could pose a risk to low flying aircraft.

One 2 One Personal Telecommunications Ltd wants to put a five-metre high pole on top of a 2.4-metre high platform alongside the main Southampton-Waterloo line at Southampton Road, Eastleigh.

But the application was put on ice after Councillor Alan Broadhurst said: "Aircraft fly over that point very low and I am concerned there could be interference with the navigational equipment of those aircraft."

Cllr Broadhurst said he worked in the electrical industry, so knew something about microwaves. He believed councillors should proceed with caution.

He said the platform would be close to a densely populated area, close to areas where people were working all day and close to the airport - prompting fears about the safety of planes.

The borough's Eastleigh local area committee had been told that the proposed platform and mast would be behind industrial units and shared by telephone operators who wanted to improve the use of mobile phones by rail passengers.

Eastleigh's assistant head of development control Ted Howles said: "The environmental health officer has no objection and the Civil Aviation Authority has no objection because it is below the notifiable height for the airport."

But Southampton Road resident Gordon Reed argued agains the choice of site, adding: "This is a densely-populated area with elderly residents with health problems and families with young children who may be at risk from these emissions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We ask you not to allow us to become guinea pigs of this latest technology."

"There is no proven health risk - but there is no proof that there isn't a health risk," he added.

"They should be able to move it by something less than a mile to where it is away from residential properties and to somewhere where it is safe."

Councillor Bill Luffman called for the planning application to be deferred to investigate alternative sites and for a report on the issues that had been raised while Councillor Peter Luffman said it would be dangerous to proceed until airport and aircraft safety had been taken into consideration.

A CAA spokeswoman told the Daily Echo that the authority did not need to be notified unless a mast was over 12 metres high and within three kilometres of an airfield.

She added: "The issue of frequencies and microwaves is taken into account."