RESIDENTS of Aldbourne have won the first round of a fight to prevent third generation mobile phone antennae being built in their village.

A meeting of Kennet's regulatory committee voted by six votes to five to throw out the application by Castle Crown International to attach three Orange antennae and a small microwave dish to the existing mast at Stock Lane, plus the addition of a small equipment cabin.

After the meeting, campaigner Peter Baker expressed his satisfaction at the decision but said: "We have won the first round but the battle goes on.

"Virtually everyone in Aldbourne is petrified about the effects of these new antennae.

"We have done a survey of homes that lie within 50, 100 and 200 metres of the existing Vodafone mast and it is worrying. There is evidence of higher than average incidences of cancer and other diseases.

"The experiments on the dangers of microwaves have been carried out on dead bodies, not living tissue.

"The problem is not so much the heating of human tissue that happens with microwave radiation, but the interference with biological processes."

Villagers say they have evidence that the health of people living within 200 metres of the mast has suffered badly and that any increase in the quantity of radiation being emitted by the station will affect it even more.

It is the first time that Kennet has turned down an application for a telecommunications mast on health grounds and it flies in the face of Government guidance and evidence from eminent bodies like the National Radiological Protection Board and the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection.