FARNHAM’S anti-mobile telephone mast action groups have received a new year boost with the news that trials to site a mast in the Bourne Woods by Orange have been successful. Anti-mobile telephone mast campaigners are continuing to fight a long and bitter battle against Orange and other mobile technology operators over plans to site masts in residential areas and near schools in Farnham. In an effort to appease local residents, Orange conducted trials in the Bourne Woods in October last year to discover if a mast sited there would provide the same level of coverage as masts sited near homes in Manor Gardens and in Grovelands. A spokesman for Orange said: “Our engineer informs me that our trials were successful for a 20-metre high mast and Vodafone and O2 are still willing to come and share the site with us. “This will definitely negate the need for masts at Manor Gardens and Grovelands. We are still trying to get the power route sorted out as there is some distance for this to travel and we are currently working on the logistics of this with the power company. “We hope to submit a planning application on this sometime between now and March and we will then concentrate on looking at possible alternatives for the telegraph poles in Rowledge. Our options here are limited but we will be initiating contact with local residents’ groups soon so that we can meet local representatives and try to work out a mutually acceptable solution. “No planning applications will be submitted for anything without first notifying all of those residents who have contacted us directly,” he added. Ray Cuckow of the Manor Gardens Mast Action Group is happy about the success of the trials but is continuing his campaign to persuade Orange and Waverley Borough Council that masts must be sited on high ground away from residential areas. Following a development-control consultative forum in November about Waverley Borough Council’s mast siting strategy, Mr Cuckow has written to planning officers to ask them to clarify their mast-siting strategy and to confirm they will be encouraging mobile technology operators such as Orange to pursue high-ground sitings away from homes and schools. A spokesman for Waverley Borough Council said in response. “With reference to planning applications for mobile telephone masts, Waverley Borough Council encourages telecommunications operators to participate in the development-control consultative forums to ensure that they are open as possible about their future plans. “A development-control consultative forum regarding the possible development of mobile telephone masts in south Farnham has been held. This is an ongoing process and, as yet, no applications for planning permission have been received. “In the meantime, Waverley’s environment and leisure overview and scrutiny committee is carrying out a review considering residents’ concerns about the potential impact of mobile telephone technology and the positioning of masts. “The committee has investigated a number of significant issues with a view to the findings being used to assist and inform the council in its role as local planning authority.” As Waverley Borough Council continues to formulate its mast-siting policy, it has been announced that it is the first local authority in Surrey, and one of the first in the country, to approve an important planning document that will shape the future of its borough, and the lives of each of its 116,000 residents. Waverley’s councillors recently endorsed the borough’s core strategy, that sets out the vision and overall strategic and sustainable framework for the way the borough will be planned up to 2018.