THE consistory court's ruling that a mobile phone mast can be erected on St Margaret's Parish Church in the centre of Hawes appears to be based mostly on a desire to open up a potential revenue stream for the Church of England, rather than the merits or otherwise of the Wensleydale proposal.

As we pointed last week, the Church of England needs money to maintain its work in rural areas and the phone companies' money - in this case Vodafone - could be valuable in years to come. In many communities the tower or spire of the village church may be the ideal place to hide away an ugly mobile phone mast. It may be the highest point in lowland areas - useful from a technical point of view.

To have refused the Hawes scheme would have set a precedent within the Ripon diocese and possibly further afield which would have threatened this potentially lucrative source of funds.

But the aspect that the Hawes campaigners are most irked about is the potential availability of another mast site in upper Wensleydale. Another phone company, Orange, is pursuing the option of a fellside mast. Why can not this site be shared by all the phone operators?

The possible outcome of this ruling is that the upper dale will have two mast sites - one on the church in the centre of Hawes and another on the fellside near Sedbusk. Better mobile phone communications will have been achieved - but at the expense of the Yorkshire Dales environment and those living in Hawes who fear, justifiably or not, the health risks associated with mobile phone emissions.