Countryside campaigners are fighting plans to put up a 15-metre in a West Sussex downland beauty spot.

Phone company Orange has applied to put the mast, with six antennae and four dishes, at Applesham Farmhouse in Coombes Road, Coombes, behind Lancing College.

The Sussex Downs Conservation Board says the tower's visual impact on the landscape would be "unacceptable".

A spokesman for the Adur District Conservation Advisory Group said: "The lattice and headframe are too obtrusive and would be visually offensive. In addition, the removal of trees for the site in an area of outstanding natural beauty would be unacceptable."

Two further objections were received from the Council for the Protection of Rural England and the Society of Sussex Downsmen.

They both said the antennae would be visible from the Adur Valley and the hills opposite.

Local councillor Geoff Howitt said: "I am very unhappy about the idea of putting up this sort of mast in such a beautiful place.

"The views from surrounding hills would be lost for ever, quite apart from the fact that this is an area of outstanding natural beauty."

A previous application by Orange to site a 25-metre mast on the north side of the Adur flyover was dismissed on appeal.

A Government inspector said: "I am in no doubt that the mast would appear as a man-made, vertical feature which would introduce an alien and intrusive element into the countryside.

"As a result, I consider that significant harm would be caused to the natural beauty of this landscape."