City councillors have rejected plans for a temporary mast on a trading estate.

Airwave applied for permission to Brighton and Hove City Council for the 15-metre tall mast at the Fairway estate in Moulsecoomb.

Officers recommended the scheme should be given temporary permission but it was turned down 7-3. The mast is intended to be part of the national system to improve police radio communications.

Moulsecoomb councillor Francis Tonks told the plannning committee: "They should be able to find a better place to put it. It is a monstrosity and it is near to people's homes in Appledore Road."

Ransit Cooner, for the applicants, said the mast was strictly temporary and would soon be switched to a permanent location nearby where there was already a mast.

Several councillors, including Tory Carol Theobald, were worried about possible health risks.

Liberal Democrat councillor David Watkins said: "There is enough evidence to make us think twice about it."

But Labour councillor Roy Pennington said it was hard given current information to sustain an objection on health grounds.