A TELECOMMUNICATIONS engineer is concerned after he heard about plans to put a mobile phone signal box on a lamppost near his home.

Orange is planning to use a lamppost on the junction of Sawpit Hill and Western Dene, Hazlemere, to send and retrieve mobile phone signals but Gladston Richards, 36, from Sawpit Hill says the post would be better used as a CCTV facility to help combat the problem with youths, who he says use the area as a race track.

Mr Richards said: "They are pushing this lamppost as a visual thing. They are asking what we think of how it looks, not what it is going to do.

"There is nothing to stop Orange, once it has got a mast there, from increasing the signal it sends out. It just seems a bit strange putting it in a dip where it is not going to be giving a big enough signal."

A spokeswoman for Orange confirmed it was proposing to install a mobile phone box on the lamppost and said it was doing all it could to minimise the environmental impact and would be working closely with Wycombe District Council.

She added the installation would improve localised coverage but would be a low-powered site.

But at a meeting of Hazlemere Parish Council, on Tuesday, Cllr Les Taylor said it had originally been agreed not to install any mobile phones while CCTV was being considered but the parish council could do nothing about it.

Objectors had until March 12, to voice concerns about the plans.