There are about 170 pupils at the school

The Tetra mast for emergency services will be sited about 450m (490 yards) from the school at Stoke Fleming.

Approval for the mast was given six months ago, but many villagers say they have only just found out. Two previous applications were rejected.

South Hams District Council has denied that permission was not handled openly.

There was no desire or need to hide it Steve Munday, South Hams District Council

Police say the Tetra project is vital for improved radio cover, but a number of mast sites in Devon and Cornwall have been refused.

Notifying the school was not a legal obligation for planners, but guidelines say it should have been as the school was informed about previous applications.

MMO2 Airwave, which is putting up the masts, says there are no proven health risks in using the new digital radio system.

Anti-mast campaigner Ian Dring said: "It's a very contentious issue, even if you talk speak to government health advisers.

Health concerns

"For instance, Sir William Stewart [head of the Health Protection Agency] recently said publicly that you cannot say the system is completely safe.

Steve Munday, head of planning at South Hams District Council said: "The application hasn't been sneaked through.

"The authority has no interest in keeping these things quiet. It's there to decide applications and to take all views into account.

"There was a lot consultation with the parish council prior to the application being submitted. There was no desire or need to hide it."

Peter Sich from 02 said: "Even if you are the point where the signal is the strongest, you'd only be exposed to one 700th of guideline levels.

"That would be about 50m (165ft) away from the base. So, even right up close to a mast, you are much less exposed to signals than you would be from using a mobile phone."

The Stoke Fleming site is one of 198 needed for the new masts in both Devon and Cornwall.

So far, 194 sites have been found and 75% of those are in areas where the new system will share an existing radio or telecommunications mast.