WATFORD is fast becoming a "forest of telephone masts and kerb furniture" it was claimed this week.

Residents in Courtlands Drive and The Ridgeway say the town is being cluttered by a growing number of masts which are making the town's streets look ugly.

Their criticisms come after Watford Borough Council's development control committee approved an application to extend the height of an existing mast at the junction of Courtlands Drive and Hempstead Road.

Norman Joyce, speaking on behalf of residents in The Ridgeway and surrounding roads, said: "When councillors talk about masts, they are only talking about the height of them and not the amount of ground equipment required to make the mast work.

"Boxes placed in front of the mast can be two metres high and three metres long.

"It is this equipment that really causes eye offence, they are not nice to look at."

Chairman of the development control committee, councillor Alan Burtenshaw, said: "The public has unrealistic expectations of what a council can do.

"The Government, which is pro the phone industry, has given local council's the responsibility for overseeing planning permission for these masts.

"But the grounds for turning down the mast applications are few and far between - therefore councillors have little say in the matter."

For full story see Friday's Watford Observer.