O2 have distributed a letter and information to 400 homes in the Fulford area about its proposals for a mobile phone mast on Heslington Lane. In the first place the residents in the nearby houses and myself would have to disagree with the appeal inspector in saying that it "would not have a detrimental impact on the character of the area".

The visual and environmental impact on the local area should be considered again by O2.

I am grateful to John Grogan MP, Fulford Parish Council and a number of local residents for their actions on this proposal. All local residents would certainly be interested to know about any other possibilities for the location.

For example, can the mobile mast sites on Hospital Fields Road or Naburn Lane not be altered to provide extra coverage? Or, secondly, are there not better locations such as the barracks, as reported in the Evening Press?

These must be more appropriate sites than one opposite a number of residential properties.

Coun Keith Aspden

Liberal Democrat, Fulford Ward

The Guildhall

Coney Street, York.

Updated: 10:59 Tuesday, March 30, 2004