A GAME of cat and mouse between mobile phone company Orange and Tonbridge and Malling council over a controversial mobile phone mast has entered a new phase.

Orange has now built the 15-metre mast at Larkfield Sports Club in New Hythe Lane and installed an electricity generator after the company's attempts to run a power line across council-owned land were thwarted.

But this week the council ordered Orange to remove the generator within 30 days because it breaches the original plans which the company submitted.

Orange upset residents last month by exploiting a legal loophole resulting from an administrative blunder by the council and going ahead with the project, despite knowing that planning permission had been refused. The council then hit back, barring Orange from trespassing on its land to connect the mast to an electricity sub-station behind Larkfield Leisure Centre.

More than 450 local people signed a petition in May voicing their concern over potential health risks from the mast and a committee has been formed to fight the project.