PROTESTERS stopped JCBs and 15 contractors in their tracks yesterday and temporarily scuppered plans to put up a mobile phone mast in a Gwent village.

People living near Talywain Rugby Club blocked a road in front of workmen who had travelled from Kent to put up a 15 metre mobile phone mast for communications giant Vodafone.

Residents say they are worried about possible health risks.

But a Vodafone spokeswoman said: "We have permission to be there and a legal right to install the equipment. We have a licence granted by the government to provide a service."

As previously reported, Vodafone has leased the land from the rugby club, and was given planning permission by Torfaen council last year.

At the time the council insisted it had met legal requirements by putting up notices near the site.

It's understood the club stands to profit from the deal, but its response today was "no comment".

Half a dozen residents, mainly from nearby Emlyn Terrace, began demonstrating peacefully when workers turned up yesterday at 9am.

They blocked the road leading to the mast site near Emlyn Park.

Community councillor Wayne Tomlinson said: "It's our community. We have to live with it and we want to air our concerns. No one would listen to the residents but now they have been heard."

"Residents in and around Craig View have been campaigning for the last year to stop it and this was the final straw," he said.

Protester Colette Finch, who lives near the site, said: "Under-11s and under-eights play rugby on the field and they want to put a mast there."

The Vodafone spokeswoman said: "Exposure levels to radio frequency fields from base stations are extremely low - between 1,000 and one million times less than a person gets from a mobile phone handset.

"To provide a service, the equipment must be near mobile phone users otherwise it simply will not work."

As previously reported, campaigners failed to get the planning application overturned by judicial review. Local people are still raising money for further legal action.

In 2000, a government report found no conclusive proof that phone masts could damage peoples' health.