CAMPAIGNERS against mobile phone giants fear the way has been paved for Chingford to be overrun with Three G masts.

Community members, including the head teacher of Longshaw Primary School, Carol Kirkland, were outraged when a Government planning inspector agreed an appeal for O2 to install a mast at the junction of Friday Hill and Winslow Grove.

They are now considering challenging the appeal in London's High Court.

Philip Slaney, a Chingford resident, claimed: "We fear that a precedent has been set. The council has turned down several recent planning applications but the mobile phone companies are just pushing the appeals through.

"The Government receives £23.5billion a year in licence fees from the mobile phone companies. Call me cynical, but I don't see that they're going to stand in the way of more masts being put up."

The planning inspector stated: "I do not consider that local residents' health concerns are sufficient to justify refusing consent."

Appeals have been lodged by T-Mobile for permission to erect a mast at the junction of Friday Hill and Bluehouse Road, and by O2 for the junction of Hatch Lane and New Road.

There are fears that Orange will appeal for a mast on Highways Agency land adjacent to Lukin Crescent. Carol Kirkland, head teacher at Longshaw Primary, said: "Our school and Whitehall Primary are against the applications and we have been consulting parents.

"There is no concrete evidence that mobile phone risks are not a health risk. Our children have the rest of their lives ahead of them, we do not want their lives to be cut short."

Mrs Kirkland requested a meeting with the planning inspector on his visit to the area but was turned down.

Mr Slaney said: "If planning inspectors are no longer prepared to meet communities how can they take their views into account?"

The campaigners are expecting to join up with other residents' groups and are being supported by their ward councillor, Marion Fitzgerald.

Another campaigner, Paul Diamond, told the Guardian: "Planning departments always quote the international guidelines published by the International Conference on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection that were written in 1996.

"This was before Three-G masts were being built. I believe these guidelines are out-dated. Sir William Stewart, who has advised the government on safety guidelines, recently said he has serious concerns. Until there is stronger evidence we cannot rule out a safety risk from masts."