A RESIDENT has warned it will "devalue our properties" if Vodafone are allowed to build a 20m high telephone mast near their home.

The firm has submitted plans to Wokingham Borough Council to replace the 15m mast in Church Road, Woodley, with a taller one.

People living in the neighbourhood, which is marked as a conservation area, are planning to stage a protest, after successfully fighting off Orange's attempt to build a second mast several years ago.

Stefanie Spaude, of St John's Close, said she was stunned when she first heard about the plans.

Miss Spaude said: "Vodafone are proposing a 20m high mast now with additional dishes, making our so called 'conservation area' even uglier.

"It's going to have a huge impact on our neighbourhood, nobody would like it if they were faced with it.

"It would devalue the prices of our homes too, would you want to move in to a residential area that had a huge mast in it?"

The plans to build the new mast next to the St John's Ambulance Centre in were submitted to the borough council in September, and officers immediately warned residents, before launching a consultation period.

Miss Spaude, 46, added: "We will be filing a formal complaint to Vodafone, we are currently suffering from sleep deprivation because the mast makes a loud bleeping noise every night, and there are children in our close too."

In response to the council's online consultation, Colin Johnson, also of St John's Close, said: "The mast is ugly and harms the character and appearance of the area, in particular its location to the church. We live in a conservation area and therefore such masts should not be allowed at all. Conservation area rules apply to all.

"There are plenty of industrial areas in Woodley or land along the railway cuttings which could be used."

A spokesman for Vodafone said: "The application is to increase the existing mast to provide 4G coverage for both O2 and Vodafone customers locally. As we have not received planning permission, no works have yet taken place.

"With regard to noise, mobile technology uses radio waves so operation is silent. However, we will ask our engineers to check the cabin to make sure everything is operating as it should."