Third bid to put 5G mast in Spalding

Another planning application has been submitted for a 5G telephone mast in Spalding.

Initial proposals to construct a 20m and then a 15m pole on the junction of Wygate Park and Claudette Avenue were refused.

After two refusals, the company is now submitting plans for a ‘super slimline monopole’ of 15m.

The applicant, CK Hutchinson for the Three network said the “reasons for refusal have been robustly addressed by replacing the mast with a super slimline Phase 9 monopole.”

Documents submitted to South Holland District Council alongside the application which adds that the proposed site meets its ‘specific technical and operational requirements.’

“Options are extremely limited and the only viable solution that minimises amenity issues has been put forward,” says the application.

The previous two applications for masts at the site met with stiff opposition from residents in the area.

Originally there would have been a 20m mast at Wygate Park and an 18m mast at Birch Grove.

Planning officers had recommended that members of the council’s planning committee approve the reduced height application of 15m which was submitted a year ago.

More than 100 people had signed a petition against the Wygate Park application and South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes joined district councillors Roger Gambba-Jones and Christine Lawton in objecting.

All of the applications are classed as ‘permitted development’ with the only matters that can be considered are appearance and siting of the masts – not any health fears which were cited by objectors.

Supporting the new application, a written document says: “Site selection process has also been influenced by the numerous vertical elements of street furniture distributed around the vicinity of the site, including street lighting columns.”

The report adds that a ‘limiting’ factor in siting the poles is that it ‘has to be one that fits in with the existing network. Sites have to form a patchwork of coverage cells with each cell overlapping to a limited degree with the surrounding base stations.”