The mast has been scaled and a anti-Tetra sign attached

Thirty members of Llanidloes Tetra Mast Action Group are meeting MMO2 Airwave on Tuesday, after the company refused to visit the Powys town.

It feared its staff would be intimidated.

Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik re-arranged the appointment so that the action group could meet in London.

The group will put its concerns about health issues from Tetra to MMO2 Airwave at a meeting at the House of Commons.

Action group chairman and mayor of Llanidloes, Councillor Edward Breeze, said: "MMO2 may not have turned up at our meeting on Monday, but we still managed to attract 200 people who put their concerns to Dr Michael Clark of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), who did show up.

It's quite insulting really that MMO2 didn't show, because we're not thugs and they would not have been lynched Cllr Edward Breeze

"It's quite insulting really that MMO2 didn't show, because we're not thugs and they would not have been lynched.

"The company made its point in a letter to Lembit Opik and he re-arranged the meeting and 30 of us have travelled to London.

No evidence

"But only 10 of us can enter the meeting with MMO2."

Residents march against the mast in Llanidloes last month

The action group complains that residents were not consulted before the 15-metre mast was erected near the town centre.

It is expected to be switched on later this year or early next year.

But NRPD say there is no evidence of any risk to people.

Tetra, a new hi-tech police secure communications system, is being rolled out across England and Wales with 3,200 masts, 300 of them in Wales.

MMO2's David Robinson and Peter Sitch were due to attend the meeting in Llanidloes.

But Josh Berle of MMO2 said: "We were invited to attend a meeting at Llanidloes, but instead we are meeting with concerned residents and Mr Opik at the House of Commons.

"I understand the main concerns of people at the meeting centred on health and Dr Clark from NRPB was best placed to deal with those.

"But there are growing concerns that there's a tendency of direct intimidation towards MMO2 employees.

"I'm not saying that would have been the case in Llanidloes, but on advice from our health and safety managers we decided not to go along."

Last month, more than 70 placard-waving campaigners marched through Llanidloes in protest at the mast, on land owned by Quality Tools and Engineering on the Maes y Llan industrial estate.