THE phone call came as a matter of urgency. Our news desk was told residents were sitting in a hole that had been dug for a mobile phone mast. Some of the protestors were actors.

There was a delicious irony about the call. It was made on a mobile phone.

This, however, was just the latest in a now long running saga in the area which has seen residents fighting against phone masts being erected in their vicinity. The battle is usually fought on one of two fronts - and occasionally on both - that the mast is too close to a school or nursery and is a health hazard or that it is simply unsightly.

The jury is still out on the health issue and consequently there is no precedent as yet for refusing permission on these grounds. The planning issues can be complex and local authorities are certainly being kept on their toes by the mobile phone industry.

We have seen incidents of companies attempting to put up a phone mast with no planning permission whatsoever and those that breach the permission they have been given when erecting them.

There are a number of skirmishes going on throughout the locale at the moment. One in Kew is on the brink of being settled and another in Whitton is on-going. And then there is Twickenham.

Here O2 has erected two masts - one in Hanworth Road and one in Chertsey Road. Both have been sited wrongly and both have breached legal authorisation. Thankfully, Richmond council was not going to be cowed by O2 and last week the planning committee approved enforcement action.

In the wake of the variety of tactics employed by the mobile phone industry, this was a critical decision. The authority could have delayed pending further discussions, but they have chosen to tough it out with O2.

MP Vincent Cable is right to call the phone company's actions arrogant and the council is right to invoke enforcement action.

It has sent a much-needed clear message to O2 and other operators that they cannot bully or wangle their way around planning matters. Given that phone masts are invariably a controversial issue in the planning arena, it beggars belief that the boundaries are breached in this manner.

There is also another issue. Let us return to that phone call and the residents in a hole. That took place at Hampton Wick where O2 were wanting to put up a 40-foot mast which, said protestors, had three schools within a quarter of mile radius and was unsightly.

Given that the residents had phoned us from the site, it raises a very obvious question. Why is the mast needed there?

Indeed, the more fundamental question is why do we need any more phone masts?

In the early days masts were put up to fill black holes' where there was no reception. Now - and especially in London and its environs - getting a signal doesn't seem to be a problem for anyone.

The mobile phone industry has yet to tell us when saturation will be reached by the ever-growing forest of phone masts, but someone really needs to start asking serious question about exactly what is going on here.