THE government has blocked Manchester city council's radical move to site mobile phone masts as close as possible to schools and hospitals.

Officials say they agree with the science - that it's safer to have MORE masts - because it would keep radiation levels low.

But they say the public simply won't accept it.

The council had planned to start a major public education campaign after they accepted a controversial report by Prof Stephen Barton at Manchester University last June.

He turned accepted wisdom on its head, arguing that to protect the vulnerable, masts should be placed as close as possible to schools, hospitals and old folk's homes.

His theory turned on the fact that a mobile phone has to produce more energy to work if there is no mast nearby and the more masts there are, the less power output from both masts and phones.

The report was put out for consultation, which led to the Government response from the Dept for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR), the Department of Health, Department ofTrade and Industry and the Radiocommunications Agency.

They said: ''We agree with Prof Barton's basic technical argument - made on the basis that this would reduce public exposure to the lowest possible level.

Anxieties

''However, this would not help to address people's anxieties about living close to a base station, regardless of any steps taken to educate the public.

Manchester was the first city council to conduct its own full inquiry on masts, and was alone in seeking support for a ''masses of masts'' policy.

Manchester has around 150 mobile masts but that figure will reach 350 by the end of next year.

Manchester City Council's head planning officer for masts, Simon Castle, said: ''The government's response was surprising.

''On appeal decisions very rarely do they reject masts on grounds of perceived health risks, yet they attach great importance to the health risks in their response.''

All masts in the UK operate well within international safety guidelines and emissions from a mast are many times lower than those from a mobile phone itself.

But there is still great public concern about the sitings of masts near to schools, hospitals, and residential homes.

It is for this reason that the government believes any sweeping change in policy to increase mobile mast sites would be totally impracticable.

The issues will now be taken to a meeting of the full Executive Committee in June, when councillors must decide whether to go against government guidance in pushing forward with a new policy on masts.