BATTLING campaigners hoping to prevent a mobile phone mast being installed on land near a Winchester school say they are confident their appeal will be successful.

The Byron Avenue protesters, whose campaign will be entering its fourth year later this summer, say they are looking forward to the appeal which is to be held in London later this autumn.

The protest group was formed after communications giant Orange applied for permission to erect a 39-foot phone mast on land at Byron Avenue close to Western Primary School.

Their application to put up the mast was initially refused by planning chiefs at Winchester City Council, however that ruling was later overturned by government planning inspectors.

That decision, handed down in March this year, prompted two local parents to mount a legal challenge against the judgement.

Caroline St Leger Davey and Diane Harrison launched the bid on behalf of their young children, claiming the mast posed a serious danger to both their children and others at the primary school.

Now a date for the appeal hearing has been set for November 10 and 11 this year, stalling Orange's plans for erecting the mast this month.

Byron Avenue resident and stalwart of the anti-mast campaign, Karen Barratt, pictured above during a protest, whose grandchildren attend Western Primary School, said she was pleased a date had been confirmed and promised not to give up the fight.

She said: "The community is 100 per cent behind this action.

"We've had protest marches and fundraising events throughout the last three and a half years and have more support now than when we started.

"We are not giving up and we are confident our appeal will be successful."

She added: "I shall be doing my fourth overnight vigil on the mast site on July 17 to 18 and inviting everyone who cares about children's health and safety to visit."