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Residents' fury after phone mast erected WITHOUT planning permission
United Kingdom Created: 16 Dec 2016
Confusions over the rules has seen a phone mast go up in a Teesside community - even though planning permission was refused in the summer.

Protesters are furious that the mast has been erected at the corner of Birkdale Road and Kilbridge Close in New Marske , even though Redcar and Cleveland’s regulatory committee originally threw it out.

Under planning rules, the council has 56 days to tell the applicant whether prior approval was needed and if so, whether that approval was being given.

But a dispute over when that process started has seen the mobile phone company install the mast anyway - even though councillors didn’t want it to be.

And with the 12.5m mast standing near a school and local houses, some residents feel it’s a blot on the landscape that needs moving.

Starting with a public meeting in the Gleneagles Community Centre tonight, organised by borough councillor Mike Findley, they are now looking to work with the council to try and get the mast moved.

Resident Bob Moodie said: “People around here don’t want it and it didn’t even secure planning permission in the first place.

“It’s a blight on the village and we will do all we can to get it relocated.”

He said the “administrative failures” had left residents with a mast “they clearly did not wish to have imposed on them, on this sensitive site in the village, close by a school and many residential homes and the shopping area.”

Possible health issues and noise emanating from the equipment are also cited by residents as reasons to oppose the mast.

The mast has been erected under a joint agreement between phone companies Telefonica UK and Vodafone.

The developer has told the authority that, as they understand it, the council’s decision wasn’t issued within the 56 day period.

Mark Ladyman, assistant director for regeneration at Redcar and Cleveland Council, said: “We are sorry that a dispute about the interpretation of regulations has led to the phone mast being erected against our wishes. The council is currently seeking legal advice in order to try and resolve the situation.

“To clarify, our planning officers have a fixed period of time to deal with planning applications and it is said that we took too long to make our decision.

“We took the starting point as being from when we received important requested documents and information from the applicants which we considered was needed to validate the application.

“The applicants took the starting point as being from when they made their initial submission, which we believed was incomplete.

“This is the nature of the issue we are trying to resolve.”
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Source: Gazette Live, Dave Robson, 15 Dec 2016

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