A MOBILE phone mast that will make it easier for people to ring home when their trains are late has been given the go-ahead.

But the proposal by Vodafone to add three metres to a 15-metre high railway signalling mast at Beaulieu Road Station was subjected to a stormy passage before getting the green light.

With the additional height being sought so that a Vodafone facility could be added, members of New Forest District Council planning development control committee were told that its main use was likely to be for railway passengers.

"I think the real reason here is to provide better cover for the railway lines. It is the sort of facility that would enable people to phone their partners and tell them when their trains are going to be late.

"This is an example where we think an addition to the signalling mast would be of benefit," head of development control Chris Elliott told the committee.

Councillors had again been told that there was no conclusive evidence that mobile phones had a detrimental effect on health.

Brockenhurst councillor Maureen Holding again expressed her concerns.

Also worried about the potential impact of the higher mast on the Forest landscape, she said: "These masts are there because of profit and in the end I think we could have some very bad repercussions from them. I do not feel the question of health has been sufficiently answered."

The committee also heard that with the government supporting the need for better communications there had been around 200 appeals against refusals of planning permission for mobile phone masts.

Practically all of them ended with government's planning inspectors overruling local authorities which had turned them down.