news story

29th September 2006

Time to End "Mast Madness"

News that yet another mobile phone mast is now planned for Yate has prompted renewed calls from local MP Steve Webb for a change in the law which governs how mast applications are handled. The MP has already protested to phone company O2 about their large mast in Rodford Way and the company has agreed to review both the colour of the mast and its size. Now phone company "Hutchison 3" has put in an application for a mast in Scott Way, Yate.

Under laws passed by a previous Conservative government in the 1980s, the current application does not have to go through the full planning process but is subject to a 'fast-track' process which greatly limits the ability of councils to refuse an application. Even where applications are refused by the Council, as with the Rodford Way mast, phone companies can often win on appeal.

Now local MP Steve Webb has given his backing to legislation being proposed in Parliament by MPs David Curry and Andrew Stunell which would make mast applications subject to fuller scrutiny by local planners. The Bill would also widen the grounds on which councils could object to applications.

Steve Webb said:

"The current rules are too biased in favour of the mobile phone operators. Although phone masts are necessary, the companies should have to work a lot harder to prove that they need to be put in the middle of residential areas.

"There is no excuse for preferential treatment for mast applications. They should face the same thorough scrutiny as any other planning application. I welcome the Bill that has been co-sponsored by my colleague, Andrew Stunell, and hope that the Government will make the time necessary in Parliament to allow the Bill to become law".


Note to editors:

Local planning authorities do not currently have any powers to block mast applications for masts below 15m and only have limited powers for those above.