THE owner of a children's nursery in York has called on City of York Council to reject plans by a mobile phone company to put up a second mast near her business.

Allyson Bolland, who owns Jemima's Day Nursery, in Hospital Fields Road, Fulford, said that if the application by T-Mobile to erect a 14.7 metre mast was given the go-ahead the health of the children at her nursery and those at another nearby nursery could be put at risk.

In 2001 Mrs Bolland unsuccessfully petitioned against the erection of a mobile phone mast, operated by O2, less that 25 metres from her business.

Now she said that Hospital Fields Road was seen as a "soft target" because it was classed as an industrial estate, despite the presence of two nurseries - Jemima's and Little Joe's - where a total of about 100 children attend daily.

Mrs Bolland said: "When O2 put the mast up last time they told us the only reason they'd put another mast up was if there was a gap in service, and although this time around the application is from T-Mobile I'm sure there could be some arrangement where they could share the mast.

"The health implications of mobile phone masts on children's health are still not totally proven, and, until they are, masts like this one shouldn't be put up so close to schools and nurseries.

"Why can't they put it out in the fields down towards the river?"

But a spokesman for T-Mobile said: "This is a site needed to support 3G technology. Whilst we always consider mast sharing as an option, it is not always a feasible option, and in this case sharing would require a more substantial structure which would have a greater visual impact on the environment.

"T-Mobile understands there sometimes can be concerns when locating base stations in communities. Based on more than 40 years of research, T-Mobile is confident that its base stations, operating within strict national and international guidelines (recognised by the World Health Organisation), do not present a health risk to any member of the public."

City of York Council confirmed that the application was received at the end of October and was expected to go to a planning committee on December 22.

Updated: 10:49 Monday, November 29, 2004