A 20m high 5G telephone mast next to Wigan town centre has been refused. On the junction of Caroline Street and Wallgate next to Go Outdoors, the 65ft pole would be visible from a key view down the principal road of Wallgate out of the Wigan town centre conservation area, according to a report.
The mast would go beyond the roofline of the surrounding area, not in keeping with the character of the area - which is why council officers recommended refusal. CK Hutchinson Networks, the applicant behind the plans, believed this mast to be pivotal in providing 5G coverage to this area.
They said in a planning statement: “5G service provision will bring faster, more responsive and reliable connections than ever before.#
“More than any previous generation of mobile networks, it has the potential to improve the way people live, work and travel, and to deliver significant benefits to the economy and industry through the ability to connect more devices to the Internet at the same time, the ‘Internet of Things’. This will enable communities to manage traffic flow and control energy usage, monitor patient health remotely, and increase productivity for business and farmers, all through the real-time management of data.”
Wigan Council officers believe that there is a need for the 5G coverage but would prefer a more ‘acceptable location’. CK Hutchinson Networks offered a list of other locations that they deemed unsuitable, but this did ‘not outweigh the significant adverse impacts of the proposed siting and design’, according to the officers report.
“Given the height of the proposed mast, and its prominent location in the street scene, it is concluded that the proposed mast and antenna would be visually prominent and would result in an unacceptable impact on the street scene impacting adversely on the character of the Conservation Area and Town Centre,” the report said.
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