People living in streets in South Bristol who discovered a huge ‘emergency’ phone mast being erected without warning back in 2020 are complaining it is still there, more than two and a half years later.
Residents of a couple of streets in Ashton have called on city council planners to sort out the situation, with no decision yet made on a planning application to make it allow it to stay, or on enforcement action to remove it.
In fact, the mobile phone company who erected the mast asked for permission for it to stay up for another 12 months more than 12 months ago - so have achieved their goal because council planners are yet to even decide on the issue.
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People living next to the mast, which was is 30m high and towers over the back gardens and homes of Smyth Road and Gerald Road in Ashton, say it is noisy as well as dominating their time spent outdoors in their gardens.
When Bristol Live visited the mast, which is located at the back of the B&M store on the South Bristol Retail Park next to Ashton Gate Stadium, the mast and its ground-based equipment cabinets were emitting a constant loud hum.
People living nearby are now calling on council planners to finally make their mind up, and order the phone mast is removed, two and a half years after it was erected as an emergency measure.
More than 70 people living along the road have registered objections to the planning application to keep it, and local councillor Tessa Fitzjohn (Green, Bedminster ) said she had visited the site and fully supported those objections.
She wrote to planners last year calling the application in, saying if the planners wanted to give it planning permission, it should be down to elected councillors to decide. “The applicant has had over a year to organise a permanent base for this installation, instead they are taking advantage and assuming they will be successful. I believe this application should be turned down, to encourage the applicant and others to take greater care with their relationship with the local community and consult properly and pay more attention to where and how they site these masts,” she said.
“They are noisy with a particularly irritating sound, and large - 30 metres high is too large to have sited in a residential situation. I fully support Bedminster residents' objections,” she added.
The saga began suddenly, in late November 2020, as the country was in the second Covid lockdown. Residents whose back gardens back on to the South Bristol Retail Park suddenly discovered a 30-metre high phone mast being erected. The mobile phone mast company putting it up soon told Bristol Live that it was an emergency measure, and they didn’t need to tell anyone or get planning permission from the council.
A previous mobile phone mast on top of Ashton Gate Stadium had recently been removed, and the firm in charge of ensuring coverage in that part of South Bristol needed to put up another one nearby in a hurry.
The Government had recently relaxed laws on mobile phone masts that enabled that to happen, and residents were told the company could, by law, keep the mast there for 18 months, while they found another place to put it more permanently.
That 18 months was up at the end of May last year, 2022, but residents' hopes it would be gone as promised were dashed when the firm submitted a planning application to keep it there for another 12 months. In the meantime, mobile phone masts were added to an existing collection on top of one of the three tower blocks on Duckmoor Road next to the stadium.
The application to retain the mast for another 12 months was submitted 13 months ago now, and Bristol City Council also started enforcement proceedings to get the mast taken down, which were halted by the new application.
Fellow local councillor Mark Bradshaw (Lab, Bedminster) agreed with local residents that it was time to bring the mast down. “This appears a cynical attempt to rollover the now expired 12 month consent. The applicant must have known that the alternative site would not be ready on time well in advance of May 2022,” he said. “There has been no engagement with the community or its representatives from the start when the mast was installed without any notice.
“Residents are concerned about the considerable visual impact of the mast structure situated closely to an residential area. There is also concern about the impact on resident's quality of life and, due to the proximity to gardens and homes, the continuous humming sound from the equipment. While recognising the need for reliable communications infrastructure, there is considerable annoyance that this mast has been installed without any thought for the people living nearby. This was exacerbated by the failure by the applicant or their agent to share information and engage,” he added.
Local resident Brenda Mounty, speaking on behalf of neighbours in her street, said: “The mast has now been up for more than two years,” she said. “How long does it take for BCC to get unlawful planning sorted out? It is having a really bad impact on our quality of life. A noise complaint was registered with the Noise enforcement team but there has not been a response. It has a constant rumble and whining, it is a terrific eyesore on our lovely area and not in keeping with our area,” she added.
A spokesperson for the company that has applied to keep the mast, at least temporarily, said it was needed in the area.
“The site at Winterstoke Road is acting as an emergency temporary solution to ensure that customers continue to receive the same level of services that they would be expecting. The lattice structure is 30m and provides network coverage to both the EE and Three networks. This is following the loss of our existing site at Bristol City Football Club,” she said.
“Ashton is a busy and populated area of Bristol. Our agents will continue to work closely with the Local Planning Authority as we seek to find a permanent solution,” she added.
