IF the Diocese of York gets its way, a village church could soon be transmitting more than the congregation's prayers.

The diocese authorities approve of plans to fix a mobile phone mast inside Shipton-by-Beningbrough Parish Church, boosting the signal of countless telephone conversations in the area.

Many villagers are profoundly unhappy about the plan, however. Theirs is not a spiritual concern about creating a modern Tower of Babel. But it is ethereal, in the sense that they fear something invisible: the potential health risks of radiation emitted by the phone mast.

This is a dilemma for the church. Vodafone would rent the spire for £3,700 a year. That investment would secure the immediate future of the Church of the Holy Evangelist. Without an immediate injection of cash, the 150-year-old building would be closed within five years.

What the diocese authorities must consider is the price they will pay in goodwill if they took the money.

If the mast is installed, the church will no longer be able to fulfil its role as the focal point of the parish. Rather it would be resented by villagers who would feel the diocese authorities had ridden roughshod over their fears. That is clear from the anger expressed first at a parish council meeting and again in the church last night.

Parents have legitimate concerns about the effect mobile phone equipment may have on their children. The Stewart Report last year uncovered preliminary evidence of a possible health risk.

Church leaders should have been more understanding, and abandoned the plan to take Vodafone's mast and its money some time ago. Instead, they opted for confrontation.

Other churches, faced with similar bills for repairs, have raised the cash within the community rather than opt for a cash handout from big business.

Members of Shipton Church should drop the mast plan. But in return, the community must rally round in a fund-raising effort to secure the church's future.

Updated: 10:57 Friday, January 26, 2001