Seven more telecoms masts to be put up in Wigan

In addition, telecoms giant EE has applied for permission to put a seventh giant 100ft mast on an industrial estate in the town. The half-dozen notifications from Blackburn-based IX Wireless Ltd have appeared on Wigan Council's planning portal. It comes against a backdrop of pre-election comments from culture secretary and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy calling for greater regulation over where and how the masts are located.

Legislation passed by the previous government allows masts to be put up in residential areas without the need for planning permission provided they are no higher than 15 metres - or 50ft. EE's application for the mast on Dobson Park Industrial Estate has been submitted and will require approval because it is twice that size. A planning statement on EE's behalf from consultants Avis Young says the mast would be an upgrade and "part of continuous efforts to improve existing mobile network infrastructure across the country".

Meanwhile, IX has table "prior notification" of its intention to install a 50ft steel pole to support fibre cables and radio antennae along with cabinets to house electronic equipment on a grass verge in Norfolk Close, Hindley. Similarly, the company says it will put identical equipment on a grass verge opposite Atherton Baptist Church on Tyldesley Road, Atherton. The latest notifications follow hard on the heels of others sent to the planning portal in recent weeks, including one on a footpath adjacent to Hindley Swimming Baths on Mornington Road.

Another will go on a grass verge at the corner of Old Road and Wigan Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield. And one will go at the Town Green Community Garden at Bolton[1] Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield. A planning statement submitted to Wigan's planning portal by IX said: "Ensuring the wide availability of high-speed gigabit capable broadband is a central part of the government's national infrastructure strategy.

"Both the government and OFCOM recognise the significant commercial and social benefits to improved telecommunications infrastructure and the government has set a target that at least 85 per cent of the UK will have a gigabit-capable broadband connection available by 2025 and at least 99 per cent by 2030." IX says 20 per cent of its network bandwidth capacity is intended for use in relation to digital social inclusion initiatives. Prior to the general election[2], in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms Nandy said that more regulation may be needed to prevent telecoms poles being erected in neighbourhoods without planning permission.

Then, she said: "[Telecoms poles] are a small but significant chunk of my caseload here in Wigan. "It's not just telecoms poles. We also had a woman who had a huge light put up outside her home along the edge of the motorway.

"It was on 24 hours a day, shining directly into her house. It was one hell of a battle to get them to remove it, and they have now. "It was absolutely unbelievable that you could do that to someone's life without needing permission at all.

"It is a big issue and my view is that we do need to have better regulation around it."

She said her colleague, Andrew Gwynne, who is Labour's MP for Gorton and Denton, led a debate about the issue in parliament recently.

"It's a very common experience across the country," she said.

References

1. ^ Bolton (www.theboltonnews.co.uk)
2. ^ general election (www.theboltonnews.co.uk)