Perth phone mast plan axed

Feb 23 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

ERECTION of a new multi-antenna phone mast in Perth has been nipped in the bud.

Perth and Kinross Council’s development control committee has rejected the proposal on grounds that the applicant had fully failed to exhaust investigation of alternative sites.

Telecommunications giants Vodafone and O2 wanted to install a 15m-high ‘site share’ monopole near the junction of Firbank Road and Burghmuir Road.

A bid to raise a similar pole on the same site was axed by councillors last June as they believed it would lead to an over-provision in the area and cause an adverse impact on visual amenity.

Representing the applicants, Lorna Kennedy told the committee that there was a demonstrated need for a mast in the area and an obligation on the firms to provide coverage to customers.

When convener Willie Wilson asked Ms Kennedy what evidence there was of a demonstrated need, she replied that there was an existing gap in coverage.

She added there was no opportunity for Vodafone and 02 to piggyback on Hutchinson Telecom’s proposed 3G phone mast – which secured planning approval for the same area in June 2007 – as it had not yet been erected.

However, PKC planning chief Nick Brian refuted objectors’ claims that the mast would be an eyesore and said the mast was of slender design.

“The monopole is more readily suited to where this type of structure is proposed and is quite a common urban feature,” he said.

Objector and local resident Harry Duncan demanded to know why the application was being considered given the previous application had been rejected after a “frank and full discussion”.

“You couldn’t get a more visible point on Burghmuir Road if you tried,” he said.

“It would have a big visual impact – you’d think Burghmuir Road was being disregarded.”

Convener Willie Wilson said: “The last thing I want to do is bang on the door of Hutchinson and alert them that they’re two and half years through their planning consent (which expires after five years).

“I think if we give way on this, then we could have a third or fourth mast coming in.”