Councillors fight phone mast appeal

17/10/2011

Councillors in Weston Village in Bath have vowed to fight a plan by mobile phone company Vodafone to install a mobile phone mast on parkland in the area. Over 100 signatures opposing the plans have already been collected for a petition organised by local residents, with support of local councillor Malcolm Lees.

A planning application for the 40-foot mast, which would be built on land behind Purlewent Drive, was recently rejected by B&NES Council Planners on the grounds that it is within Greenbelt. However, the company has indicated that it plans to appeal this decision.

Local Councillors Malcolm Lees and Colin Barrett argued against the installation of the mast after consulting nearby residents about the plans. Colin and Malcolm argued that, in addition to it being located within Greenbelt and the Cotswold AONB, the height of the mast would also be intrusive to nearby residents and would ruin an area used by local residents and dog walkers.

Now Malcolm and Colin are urging residents in the area to join with them in opposing the plans and to sign the petition calling on the any appeal to be rejected.

Councillor Malcolm Lees (Cons, Weston) said:

"We believe that the original decision to turn down this phone mast application was absolutely the right one. Residents made it clear to us that parkland, within Greenbelt and AONB, near to people's homes is simply not the right location for a 40-foot phone mast. Mobile phones are an integral part of day to day life nowadays and we completely understand the need for phone companies to provide good signal coverage. But Vodafone needs to back down on this issue as this is clearly not the right place for its mast. We would like as many residents as possible to sign our petition to show the level of opposition to this plan."

If any residents would like to sign the petition, they can contact Cllr Malcolm Lees by email on Malcolm_lees@bathnes.gov.uk