Campaigners are continuing their four-year fight to stop a phone mast being erected next to a primary school.

Vodafone has been given permission to put up a 3G mast in Railway Street, Gillingham, just 100ft from St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School.

The school in Greenfield Road began its battle against the mast in 2005, when the planning application first appeared before Medway Council.

Parents at the school are backed by their Liberal Democrat ward councillors and Gillingham MP Paul Clark.

Medway Council turned down the application twice but Vodafone appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and had the refusal overturned in January.

Those opposing the mast say they were not informed the decision had been made and were not told they had only six weeks to appeal. Vodafone began work to install the mast on Friday.

Parent Mike Evans, whose six-year-old daughter goes to the school, is now hoping they can take legal action against the phone company.

He said: “It is a complete affront to democracy that this phone mast is going ahead. The Conservative Medway Council has objected to it, the local Liberal Democrat councillors are against it, Labour MP Paul Clark opposes it, the school doesn’t want it and neither do the parents or the residents, but it’s still going to happen.”

“Vodafone claims the mast is needed because the signal in the area is very poor or non existent but that isn’t true.

“The only place there isn’t good coverage is the train station and I don’t see why local children’s health should be put at risk for the sake of commuters.”

Speaking to the Medway Messenger in 2005, head teacher Bernadette Long said: “I just can’t believe they would consider putting a mast so close to a primary school with 400 pupils.”

Mr Clark said: “I am looking again at the Stewart report into mobile phone radiation to see if there is any way we can challenge this decision.

“There are still a number of issues which remain unresolved; why is the mast needed when coverage in the area seems to be OK and why will the mast be located on a public highway, not on private land further away from the school?”

A spokesman for Vodafone said: “The proposed installation in Railway Street, Gillingham is required for 3G coverage in the area.

"We are aware of coverage gaps in the area and we would like to improve the service to our customers. The mast will give our customers the opportunity to use mobile broadband with speeds similar to other broadband providers.

“The proposal was assessed by the independent Planning Inspectorate who granted us planning permission.”