PROPOSALS for a phone mast in West Swindon will have to be resubmitted because the wrong postcode was put on the planning application.

An application for a 17.5m mast on the edge of Whitehill Way, near Castle Dore, was submitted last year by O2 Telefonica and was rejected by councillors last spring.

But it will now have to be resubmitted due to the postcode error, and may lead to plans for a new mast just feet away from the old proposed one.

Coun Michael Bray (Con, Freshbrook and Grange Park) said the earliest that Telefonica UK would be able to resubmit would be in February, but they would not be getting his support.

“They put down the wrong postal code so they have got to resubmit their application, if they want to,” he said.

“Myself and Coun Michael Dickinson don’t want any more masts around the area. Now it has been determined it is the wrong postal code they have to resubmit it and the earliest opportunity will probably be February 14.

“We fought one in April further along Whitehill Way. The only way you can dispute a mast going up is its positioning and its appearance. You can’t fight it on medical grounds.”

The application has now been removed from the council’s planning portal website.

“This mast is to support the mast at the Link Centre. Their idea is to give a bigger strength to 3G. People were objecting to it,” said Coun Bray.

Linda Locke, 65, who lives metres away from the proposed site, said she did not think the postcode error would stop them.

“It’s obviously not going to stop them trying it. This is going to be a big battle and it is totally unacceptable,” she said.

Linda wrote a letter of objection to the application to the council in which she said: “The proposed site is a residential area and totally unsuitable for this installation.

“Not only is there Greendown Community School in close proximity but also Gainsborough Court, which is sheltered housing for older vulnerable people, and a pelican crossing which is used daily by the school children to get to and from school.”

Plans to extend a mast in Tewkesbury Way were rejected in December and Coun Steve Wakefield (Lab, Toothill and Westlea) encouraged residents who do not want the mast to object.

“Anybody who is not happy about having a mast in their area should contact the council in the period for objections,” he said.

“These companies come along and they don’t talk to the community.”