Hartlepool Borough Council’s planning committee voted 8-2 against a flag pole-shaped phone mast being put up in the grounds of Hartlepool Cricket Club, in Park Drive. Richard Teece, the council’s development control manager, said 247 letters of objection had been received from residents and governors from the two schools in the area, along with a 54-name petition against the installation of the T-Mobile structure. But he said it would be difficult to sustain an objection, even though health would be a material consideration, and added: “If an installation meets international guidelines then that should be sufficient.” However, councillors on the planning committee threw out the plan, citing health, perceived risk of health and the visual impact on the Park ward’s conservation area as reasons. But Coun Jonathan Brash said he had frequently visited the local golf course where he had been unaware of a phone mast, which he thought was a flag pole, and that he was “not prepared to treat one part of town differently to others” by objecting to a mast in West Park. However, Elizabeth Carroll, a West Park resident, said: “It will be a blot on the landscape and is an unacceptable risk to our health. ‘‘It is a travesty to local residents’ concerns and contrary to Hartlepool Council’s plan.” Richard Hattersley, a planning consultant acting on behalf of T-Mobile, said the mast would be visually appropriate to the area as it would be in the form of a flag pole and health issues should be given limited weighting in the consideration of the application as they were yet to be proven.