A HUGE mobile phone mast could be built in Chedworth, and many villagers have complained will spoil their picturesque views of the Cotswolds.

More than 100 concerned residents gathered on Monday night at Chedworth Village Hall to hear about plans for a 30 metre telephone mast in Fields Road.

Villagers and business owners have been complaining for years that the area lacks sufficient mobile phone signal, yet many are angry about plans to build a 30 metre telephone mast to achieve this.

A presentation was delivered at the meeting by William Osborne, a member of the planning department at telecoms firm Harlequin.

Audience members raised concerns about health risks the mast might cause, house prices falling and spoilt views. Mr Osborne said the location for the mast was not perfect, but it was the most suitable one in the area.

"Effectively it is just a large lump of metal sitting in a field," he said. "In the distance you can just make it out."

Nick Smee, who lives just across from where the mast is due to be built, said he and his neighbours are very opposed to the idea.

"We are very against the location of the mast, not the mast itself," he said. "I don't care where it is. It needs to be somewhere where it won't have a significant effect on people.

"If this goes ahead I would lose 20/30 per cent of my home's value."

And residents said they thought the public meeting was extremely one-sided, with audience members only given around 10 minutes to ask questions at the end.

Cotswold District Council candidate for Chedworth Jenny Forde was at the meeting and said: "People I've been speaking to on the doorstep,do say they really want to be better connected however, the residents of Chedworth clearly need a lot more information before they can make an informed decision on the proposed mast."

Resident Reg Fforbes said in a letter to the Standard: "If we wanted mobile phones we would live where they had mobile phone signals, it is only down in the bottom where there is none. Like many people I came to the Cotswolds for the beautiful views - which have been unspoiled for many years.

"But a one hundred foot mobile telephone mast will blight many residences and be seen from miles away."

Another meeting could be held in the future so residents can ask more questions. A planning application has not yet been submitted.