NEARLY all the residents in a Dales village are objecting to plans for a 36ft high smart meter mast on the edge of their community - but they fear it could be railroaded through because it’s a Government scheme.

The mast at Hunton, between Bedale and Leyburn, is part of a new Smart Meter Network being built across the country on behalf of the Department for Energy and there is a planning presumption in favour of the applications being approved.

John and Pam Wall, who live in Leyburn Road, Hunton, were the first to be consulted by Richmondshire District Council’s planning team, but they say hardly anyone else was asked. Now a letter of objection has been signed by over 120 householders - most of the residents - with the parish council also protesting.

The letter says: “We object most strongly to this proposal. It will be an eyesore and the first thing people will see on entering the village from Constable Burton. It will be very exposed and surely should be sighted away from housing and shielded from immediate view.

“We object on the grounds that the smart meter and mast emit radiation, which is very detrimental to health and can cause cancer problems, these have been proved to interfere with pacemakers. All this has been conveniently swept to one side.

“At the moment the government initiative is not proving very popular with people finding they are tied in to the provider they signed up with, or their smart meter stops working. We feel a mast in this beautiful village is detrimental and will lower the value of properties.”

Mr Wall said: “It seems a very roughshod way of doing things and they can railroad it through.”

The parish council said: ”We believe this represents a severe and unwarranted visual intrusion and detracts from the look and feel of the village.

“By any standards, this is a large mast and is the first thing anyone will see when entering the village from the west. We believe this mast could be placed in a far less intrusive location.”

The development company Arqiva, who say they are developing a smart meter network across northern England and Scotland on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change did not respond to requests for a comment. In a letter to Mr Wall they said: “Please note this is not an application for planning permission.

“The development enjoys an approval in principle given to all such proposals of this type. This means the district council can only consider matters of siting and design.”

The application is due to be decided by August 15.