CONTROVERSIAL plans for a radio mast at Avebury have been approved, while in Marlborough the battle to halt a similar scheme rages.

Kennet councillors have approved a plan to put up a 13.5-metre radio mast within the Avebury World Heritage Site after conservationists withdrew their objections.

But in Marlborough the fight goes on to stop three masts being put up on the roof of the telephone exchange in Lower Prospect, off Blowhorn Street.

One of the protesters, Peter Hussey, whose home in Alexandra Terrace is next to the telephone exchange, is so incensed at the scheme that he entered Sunday's Marlborough Carnival parade to draw attention to the campaign.

The telecommunications firm Hutchinson 3G is seeking planning permission to site three masts on the roof of the telephone exchange.

The transmitters will serve a new generation of mobile phones and Hutchinson paid more than £4 billion for the Government licence to set up a nationwide network.

Protesters fear the giant masts will damage their children's health and are urging people to join their campaign and write to Kennet District Council to complain.

In Avebury, parish councillors have reluctantly agreed the mast should go ahead.

Councillors at Kennet District Council's regulatory committee heard last Thursday that representatives from English Heritage, Wiltshire County Council's archaeologist Roy Canham and Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger, the World Heritage Site officer, met representatives of Marconi, the agents for the scheme, last month.

Marconi raised a hydraulic pole to the height of the proposed mast to allow the conservationists to judge the impact the mast would have on the prehistoric stone circle.

Brad Fleet, Kennet's planning services manager, said: "Both the county archaeologist and the World Heritage Site officer have withdrawn their objections on the grounds that the visual impact of the proposal on the setting of the World Heritage Site is not considered harmful enough to warrant an objection, given the 11-metre height of an intervening belt of trees.

"A condition should be attached to ensure that the mast is not increased in height without a further planning application."

The applicants, Airwave, insisted that the existing aerial installations for the area could not provide the required level of cover for police radios.

They said that Avebury and Beckhampton are acknowledged as areas sensitive in terms of crime control, the henge itself having been the subject of disturbances.

The existing analogue system currently used by the police is due to be switched off when the replacement digital system is in place.

Avebury Parish Council withdrew its objections too, saying: "The parish council reluctantly approves this application on the grounds of having a better access to emergency services. The parish council is still unsure as to the health risks of the mast."

The National Trust, the Council for the Protection of Rural England and the Avebury Society have all registered their disapproval of the scheme, mainly on the grounds of visual intrusion in the World Heritage Site.

Ms Pomeroy-Kellinger initially complained that the mast would protrude over the adjacent trees and would be visible from a number of points within the World Heritage Site.

She suggested a more appropriate location could be found further north of the site, outside the envelope of the World Heritage Site.

But Mr Fleet said that Kennet planning officers had discussed at great length with Airwave possible alternative solutions, including fixing the mast to one of the silos on East Farm, Winterbourne Monkton, where the mast is scheduled to be put up.

This idea was discounted because the headframe and antennae would project over the silo and would be even more intrusive than the mast.

They also dismissed locations further to the north as they would result 'in a higher visual intrusion within the wider landscape'.

Mr Fleet concluded: "It is clear the police need an installation and that a completely unobtrusive one in this area is going to be difficult to achieve."