AN ACTION group set up to stop a mobile phone mast being built 70 metres from a Six Bells primary school is calling for a final decision to be made on the issue.

Blaenau Gwent council’s planning officers were due to meet representatives from Vodafone in January to ask them to consider citing the mast further away from Bryngwyn Primary School.

However, the meeting was cancelled due to the illness of the council’s head of planning in the public protection sector, Steve Smith.

The meeting has yet to be re-arranged and members of the Six Bells Against the Mast action group are eager for the matter to be resolved.

The chairman of the action group, Nigel Bard, said: “This needs to be sorted out sooner rather than later and we have been waiting too long now.

“When the meeting does take place we will come out in force as an action group, such is the opposition against the mast.

“Until the meeting happens we are still in the dark about a final decision on the plans.”

Blaenau Gwent council granted planning permission for the ten-metre high mast in September last year.

The council’s planning committee said it was unable to refuse planning permission on the grounds of health concerns, due to government planning guidance.

However, due to the number of objections received, the council began discussions with Vodafone to consider citing the mast further away from the school.

Members of Six Bells Against the Mast action group say they are worried about the safety of their children and are concerned about the effect the mast could have on their children’s health.

Six Bells councillor and vice-chairman of the planning committee, Wilfred Watkins, said a request has been made to Vodafone to consider an alternative site for the mast and council officers were awaiting a reply: "We can't have a meeting without a result, when we've got an answer back, then we'll have a meeting."