EAST Durham campaigners were last night celebrating after plans to site a mobile phone mast were scrapped.

Residents in the Pennine Drive area of Peterlee were angered when cellphone giant Hutchinson 3G applied to Easington District Council to erect a 12.5-metre mast next to their busy roadway.

A protest meeting was swiftly organised and a 700-name petition was compiled.

But only 24 hours before the plans were due to come before council, the company withdrew the application.

Hutchinson's 3G community affairs manager for the North-East, Michael Alexander, said that after hearing of the concern of residents, it had been decided to withdraw the application at that site. But he said the company still required a mast in the town.

The decision was warmly welcomed by Eddie Fox, who helped lead the protest. "We are over the moon and everyone is delighted that we have won the day, it is a big weight off our minds,'' he said.