Floodlight stand set to become telecoms tower
One of Hereford FC’s huge floodlight stands is set to be given a new purpose
One of Hereford FC’s huge floodlight stands is set to be given a new purpose.
The club’s Edgar Street ground, which it leases from Herefordshire Council, is switching to more sustainable LED floodlights, for which smaller stands closer to the pitch will be erected after the current football season ends in mid-May.
Following this, three of the four iconic 27-metre-tall towers, among the tallest structures in the mostly low-rise city, are due to be taken down.
A fourth, on the northwest corner of the ground, could now host mobile telecoms equipment.
But first a planning application (number 251251) for their re-siting, made by network operators EE (UK) and Hutchison 3G UK, must be approved.
Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), jointly owned by operators EE and Three, has been given a notice to quit regarding its current mobile equipment on the two towers at the Blackfriars End to the south of the ground, where the former stand has already been demolished.
“Thus this new equipment is urgently required to maintain coverage,” agent for the applicants Guy de Rose says, adding that the existing equipment “is dilapidated and no longer meets operational requirements”.
The proposal “is for the installation of antennas, dishes and associated ancillary works on a new crow’s nest platform that will provide continued and improved coverage for EE, H3G Hutchison 3G, which trades as Three LTE Long Term Evolution – that is, 4G and the emergency services network for this area of Hereford”, he explains.
The project “has been designed to minimize environmental and visual impact while delivering substantial public benefits, and aligns with local and national planning policies”, he adds.
The application can be commented on until May 20.
Herefordshire Council has meanwhile confirmed that its redevelopment of the Blackfriars End will not now include student accommodation, but has given no further indication of its plans for the now-vacant site, nor said when it will take down the remaining towers.