A 70-year-old woman has said a plan to build a phone mast just a few feet from her home in Thorpe St Andrew is 'atrocious'.

Wendy Aitkin, who has lived in her home on Harvey Lane for 40 years, said it is a 'horrendous' plan and she does not want to be looking at the structure as she sits in her garden.

Ms Aitkin spoke out as the Evening News revealed that a raft of phone mast applications had been registered across the Norwich area to meet the increasing use of mobile phones and needs of smart phone users.

Phone giants O2 and Vodafone plan to build the mast in an unused yard at the back of the Thorpe Motor Company, directly next door to Ms Aitkin.

Ms Aitkin, who has terminal lung cancer, said that the stress of finding out about the application has made her illness worse and she felt like she was being pushed out of her home.

'This application has put me under such stress. It has made me more ill.

'It is only going to be feet away from my living room wall.'

Ms Aitkin said the first she heard of the plan was when she received a letter from Broadland District Council.

'It is like fighting a battle. I do not want a telephone mast. If I put my hand through the living room wall I would be able to touch the mast', she said.

'I am going to be out in my garden and I am going to be looking at a telephone mast.'

O2 spokesman James Stephenson it was 'very unusual' that Ms Aitkin has not been contacted by the mobile phone company.

He said they were very keen to speak to people who had concerns about phone mast applications and he wanted to talk to Ms Aitkin to see if the plans could be adjusted.