Campaigners against proposed phone mast in Plymouth claim victory
Plymouth City Council has rejected plans for the 18-metre mast in Peverell
Campaigners against the construction of a 18-metre mobile phone mast in Plymouth were celebrating on Wednesday, after Plymouth City Council rejected the plans.
An application to build the mast at the junction of Long Rowden and Home Park Avenue in Peverell has been submitted by WHP Telecoms Ltd on behalf of CK Hutchison UK Networks, providers of the Three network.
Cllr Jeremy Goslin (Lab, Peverell) said people locally are very concerned about the proposal.
“They’re angry that there’d really been no proper consultation on the part of the company to talk to them about the mast location or whether they could do anything for the community,” he said. “So the more people we spoke to the more opposition it generated.”
Cllr Goslin said 161 statements of opposition to the mast have been posted on Plymouth City Council’s website.
Most objections are about how the mast would look; almost four times the height of local houses.
But Cllr Goslin said some people also expressed health concerns about 5G technology.
“They think the evidence is not really there that it’s completely harmless,” he said.
The Peverell mast application was refused by officers ahead of the next planning committee.
In rejecting the application, officers said: “The proposed development would have an unacceptable and harmful impact on the outlook of the occupants of that property, which would fail to safeguard their health, including mental health, and their amenity.”
But the refusal also referred to the area as a whole: “By virtue of the masts extreme height and location in a high density, mainly residential environment, it would be out of keeping with the scale of development in the area and would appear intrusive and incongruous, particularly when seen against the skyline, causing unacceptable harm to the character of the area.”
Cllr Goslin insisted that he was not against the building of mobile phone masts, providing the location was appropriate. “We all use and need mobile telecommunications,” he said.
“It’s just the siting of that particular location. Does it have to be so large?”
“There are many locations you could put it where it wouldn’t be so incongruous – it wouldn’t be so obvious – it wouldn’t be in the face of local residents.”
The campaign against the mast was also backed by MP Luke Pollard (Lab & Co-op, Plymouth, Sutton & Devonport) who was also involved a similar campaign against an application for a 20-metre mast in Morice Town, Plymouth in April.
WHP Telecoms was approached for comment but has not responded.