Mobile phone mast proposal faces local petition

A petition has been raised in Birmingham City Council’s meeting, opposing planning developments for a “monster mobile phone mast”.

In the council meeting held on February 28, 2023, councillor, Rob Pocock, of Sutton Vesey said: “The residents state this will be intrusive, overbearing and damaging to the local amenity.”

Three, the telecommunications company, have planned for it to be erected on Monmouth Drive, in front of the National Nature Reserve, in Sutton Coldfield.

The locals believe this will harm the picturesque location.

The company had already drafted a proposal for a 20 metre mast in the same position, in October 2022. The plan had been met with objections from both councillors and locals.

The most recent plan now proposes a 15 metre mast, in grey, which Cllr Pocock led the opposition against, calling the proposal excessive.

Credit: Imogen Baller, Sutton Coldfield National Park

Pocock said; “This is the second time the Hutchison Telecomcs company have applied for a phone mast in this unsuitable location.

Not only is it an unacceptable visual intrusion, it’s also a serious distraction for drivers at a busy traffic location. I’m pleased to say the Council Planning Department have rejected thia application. We all want better 5G connectivity but the sites for masts need to be selected woth much greater concern for the character of residential areas.

“I have the feeling that they choose sites that are the cheapest for them to build on, rather than prioritising sites on more environmentally acceptable grounds.”

The permit aims to increase mobile phone coverage across at least 95% of England by 2030, including rural areas, as part of the Levelling Up White Paper, published February 2, 2023. Currently some 69% of England has mobile phone coverage from all four major network operators, with the “greatest disparities being between rural and urban areas”.

This mobile phone mast set to be erected on Monmouth Drive, Sutton Coldfield, would fall under the Levelling Up White Paper, as part of the developments to bring data connection and signal across the vast majority of England by 2020.