TORFAEN councillors challenged council officers on their policies towards mobile phone masts at a special seminar yesterday.

The meeting was called after public concern over mobile phone masts came to a head in Talywain, near Pontypool.

Campaigners blocked Vodafone workers from building a mast on the grounds of a local rugby club last month, and have kept a vigil there ever since.

The campaigners say they are concerned over possible health effects from the mast, and claim the council has failed to consult with them.

Yesterday council chiefs admitted that more consultation was needed.

Torfaen's head of development control, Richard Lewis, said: "We are trying to develop our practices so we carry out more consultation than we have in the past."

But the officers said the council's hands are tied by Assembly and government legislation.

They explained that planning policy set out by the Assembly says health concerns over mobile phone masts do not need to be taken into account when determining applications if the development meets international guidelines.

Borough solicitor Duncan Forbes said: "We are seriously constrained on how much we can take health issues into account.

"The policy is a shambles. We have very little room for manoeuvre."

Abersychan councillor Gwyneira Clark, whose ward includes Talywain, asked why the masts could not be moved further away from residential areas, and why the council can't simply adopt a ban on all masts.

Torfaen assistant director for the environment, Duncan Smith, said Assembly planning policy does not allow councils to make their own precautionary policies such as banning masts or imposing specific distances on them.

Mr Smith said: "The only point on which we can successfully refuse mast applications is on aesthetics."

Abersychan councillor Ken Clark said: "It is clear that the authority has little room for manoeuvre.

We should look to progress these issues through the Welsh Assembly."

The council is to hold another seminar on the issue later this month, and will invite mobile phone company executives and Assembly Members.