ANY family which has sought to improve their home, perhaps by adding a modest conservatory, knows all about the cost and rigmarole of seeking planning permission.

Nevertheless people understand why strict rules are necessary to prevent unfettered development.

What they will not understand is why mobile phone companies are exempt from those same planning restrictions.

As long as their communication masts are not more than 15 metres high, they are, seemingly, able to stick them up wherever they want.

The latest antennae to cause controversy is 9.7 metres high. That is more than twice the height of a double deck bus, and T-Mobile want to park it slap bang in the heart of ancient York, next door to one of our finest medieval churches, All Saint's.

This mast is set to be a terrible visual intrusion. More worrying are the health concerns. The Stewart Report on the issue reported that "there can be indirect adverse effects" on the well-being of people who live or work nearby the masts.

Yet City of York Council can do little except rubber stamp their installation. It has received more than 100 applications for phone masts in eight years, a figure likely to increase as more people switch to "third generation" mobiles.

That such important local decisions are effectively being made in Whitehall is intolerably anti-democratic.

Mobile phone masts should be subject to the full council planning process, and quickly.

Updated: 11:16 Tuesday, January 18, 2005