Dorset councillors call for improved phone connectivity
A map of 'coverage black spots' have been revealed
Dorset needs to find radical solutions for better mobile connectivity according to a new report.
Dorset Councillors fear services in rural parts of the county will get worse as 2G and 3G are switched off.
The report says current mobile coverage from the four major providers is patchy, and more needs to be done to make network providers more welcome.
One member at the authority, Cllr Toni Coombs, told a meeting that she feared breaking down on some roads in the south east of the county because many had no phone signal at all:
“There are an awful lot of spots where there is no signal around Verwood.. when driving, if I broke down on those roads I would be vulnerable."
Cllr Sherry Jespersen, who chairs on the council’s area planning committees, said there remained 'a fog' over the way in which planning applications for masts were dealt with.
She said, in her area, a provider had been planning a mast within inches of garden gates in a housing estate and in another, unsuitable, location, with people apparently powerless to stop them:
“Negotiations were well advanced before any conversations were held with the landowner…and when the conversation was had it was made quite clear that they (the landowner) didn’t have the power to say ‘no’ – which I found strange and caused the landowner a great deal of anxiety.
She said the process for a mast should be the same as for other planning requests although the Government was encouraging a process where masts were considered permitted development, without the need to go through the full planning process.
The meeting heard much of the problems come from the rural nature and topography of the county making service provision less cost-effective than in urban areas.