Campaigners lose Northumberland phone mast fight

Jan 2 2010 By Dave Black, The Journal

A TELECOMS giant's bid to site a mobile phone mast half a mile from one of the region's top historic treasures has been given the green light by a Government planning inspector.

Telefonica O² sparked protests earlier this year when it unveiled the bid to erect the 27.5m-high lattice tower and base station at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland – 800m north of Hadrian’s Wall and within the official setting of the World Heritage Site.

Local parish councillors claimed it was "inconceivable" that a mast could be built in such a sensitive location, and branded the proposal "completely unacceptable".

Six months ago, county councillors went against the advice of their planning officers and rejected O²’s application, but the company decided to challenge the decision and appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

Now planning inspector Philip Asquith has ruled that the mast can be built at West Heddon Nursery, after examining both sides of the argument and carrying out a site visit.

He said the national custodians of the Roman Wall, English Heritage, have not objected to the mast, and he felt the structure will have a minimal impact on surrounding green belt land.

Mr Asquith said the tower will be within the "buffer zone" of the World Heritage Site, and visible from the line of the wall.

But he said that English Heritage has concluded that the proposal "will not adversely impact on the ability to comprehend military thinking."

He added: "I have no reason to disagree with this assessment."

Heddon-on-the-Wall Parish Council chairman Ian Armstrong said: "We are disappointed because we felt there were alternative sites and we offered to talk to O² about them. Instead they chose to go to the Planning Inspectorate, which is their prerogative, and we will just have to live with it.

"We are in an area of high landscape value and close to the Roman Wall, and we did suggest that they could put the equipment on existing pylons or even disguise the mast as a tree."

Mr Asquith says the mast will be taller than nearby trees but will not be an "overtly obtrusive or stark feature". It will also be seen against the background of much bigger electricity pylons.

A previous bid by O² for a 25m-high mast on the West Heddon Nursery site was rejected by the former Castle Morpeth Council in 2008. The previous year, Government planning inspector Wenda Fabian rejected an appeal by T Mobile against the same authority’s refusal to approve a 16m mast, 190m from the wall.

O² says the mast is needed to replace its existing telecoms equipment sited on a line of electricity pylons, which are to be removed. The company says 13 other sites have been considered but discounted, as they would not provide the levels of coverage required for Heddon and the A69.

The row comes just a few days after O² decided to press ahead with a controversial plan to erect a mobile phone mast outside Darras Hall First School in Ponteland.