Darras Hall residents protest over O2 phone mast

Oct 24 2009 by David Black, The Journal

PLANNING bosses have been bombarded with protests from angry residents over the latest bid to put up a mobile phone mast in the heart of one of the region’s most upmarket housing estates.

More than 220 people have fired off letters of objection to the revised plans by telecoms giant Telefonica O2 to erect the 15m-high pole in Broadway, Darras Hall, Northumberland.

They are furious that the mast is now being proposed near their homes – just months after a previous application to site it 200m along the road was rejected by county councillors.

The initial application – which involved a 12.5m-high mast next to Darras Hall First School – was refused following objections from the school, parents and residents.

It then transpired that the refusal was invalid because it did not happen within the required 56 days of the planning application being received.

The blunder left O2 free to go ahead and install the mast – but the company agreed to hold talks with the council on finding an alternative and less sensitive site.

Now its revised application has prompted claims that the problem has simply been moved 150 to 200 metres further along Broadway, to a roadside site close to old people’s flats.

Yesterday the county council confirmed 226 letters of objection have been received. The application goes before the west area planning committee on November 5.

Vivienne Whyte, 66, who lives next to the proposed site in Darras Mews and has been spearheading the local protest campaign, said:“I am really thrilled that so many people have taken the trouble to write in and object.

“As far as I am concerned I don’t believe they should be putting this in a residential area like this. I have tried to make people aware of it.

“I understand that parents were concerned about the health risks, but what about the old and frail people along here who are equally vulnerable?”

The county council’s planning department was accused by Darras Hall First School of ‘gross mismanagement’ following the fiasco earlier this year.

O2 spokesman Tom Powell said the original site next to the school had gained planning permission by default. “However, rather than implement that permission and build this site, O2 has taken on board local concerns and has worked with the planning authority to come up with a more suitable, alternative site in the area.”