A GROUP of Dudley residents are refusing to give up the fight against a 66ft tall mobile phone mast erected just outside their homes.

The 5G mast has angered residents in the Lawnwood Road, Saltwells Road area, who claim its ugly, massive and just outside their windows.

They are also angry because they feel Dudley Council failed badly in how it communicated the planning application to them, saying most failed to get letters about it and those that did thought the mast was being erected further away.

Campaigners insist they are not against 5G masts – although they would like to see scientific reports to reassure them about health issues.

But they are against the mast, which belongs to Three Telecom, towering outside their flats and there have been complaints from some residents of smelling ‘electrical burning.’

Campaigner Richard Lowe and local Councillor Bryan Cotterill are discussing how best to take the issue forward after agreeing that the siting of the mast there was ‘crazy.’

“It beggars belief,’ said Councillor Cotterill. “It’s appalling. There doesn’t seem to have been any sympathetic thought to where it was going.

“I would not want a huge mast outside my living room window and I don’t want it for my constituents either.

“Mobile phones are important and we need masts, but not this close to houses and playing fields.

“We are not giving up on this.”

Mr Lowe says 64 residents have backed the fight, and are angry and feel betrayed. “I want them to take it down and put it further away from people’s homes. There are football pitches a few hundred meters away.”

The council deny that maps they sent out to residents placed the mast in the wrong spot and say residents were consulted.

Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, said: “We understand that some residents are concerned that the location of the proposed mast has altered but this is not the case and the location where it is to be erected remains exactly the same as shown on the approved plan.

“Dudley Council wrote to all residents who live in close proximity to the development earlier this year to give them opportunity to comment.”

Councils have limited jurisdiction over the erection of 5G masts under government rules aimed at speeding up the expansion of coverage, but they can challenge specific locations.