Planning proposals for mobile phone masts

‘They’ve chosen to put them here because
they think we don’t matter.’

True or not, this is the kind of comment that was made over and over again when people in the neighbourhood were asked what they thought about the two planning proposals for telephone masts: one on ‘the green’ at the junction of Courtland Road and Rose Hill Road and the other (currently at pre-planning stage) on a grass verge on Rose Hill Road. True or not, the notion ‘we don’t matter’ has to come from somewhere. The most likely possibility is that the neighbourhood environment appears to be neglected and the self-esteem of its community is sadly at a very low ebb.

Fighting the proposals has gained momentum as more and more people in the community are opening their eyes and taking a good look at their neighbourhood environment. It has to be said that much of the neighbourhood has become run-down. ‘The green’ and pleasant grass verges could be seen to be one of the neighbourhood’s few redeeming features.

10 metre high phone masts are alienating features that will add to the catalogue of existing problems in the neighbourhood. The masts can bring no benefit or enhance the appearance of the neighbourhood which is so much in need of visual improvement. This community wants things to be better, which means a neighbourhood environment that looks better. It can only be achieved if the planning authority protects the neighbourhood from further decline by rejecting proposals which don’t help or enhance the appearance of the neighbourhood.

Hundreds of people have responded to a petition rejecting the mast proposal on the local green and many of those have sent letters. They will respond in the same way if the proposal for another mast on the grass verge reaches planning stage.

‘These masts would be ridiculously close to houses. Far more consideration should be given to the careful siting of masts away from densely populated residential areas.’ This is a comment with which the entire community agrees.

Both the locations proposed are much too close to houses and the masts would be seen quite clearly by the houses immediately in front of them. Rose Hill Road is a busy thoroughfare.

The installation and maintenance for the masts in both proposed locations and on any part of Rose Hill Road would be very disruptive to road traffic. The proposed location (presently at pre-planning stage) for the mast on the grass verge is directly opposite a bus stop.

Residents living very close to the proposed sites would like to remind the phone companies and the planners that the hedges in front of the residents’ houses cannot be regarded as camouflage which is relevant to the phone company’s case for approval. The obligation to maintain and grow hedging cannot be forced upon the residents in question to comply with, or assist with, the applicant’s plan to construct a mast. In addition to this, the recent act, which was passed with regard to hedging, precludes the unquestionable right of anyone to grow a hedge more than 6 feet. The masts proposed will be more than 30 feet high.

The proposals suggest the masts would be camouflaged by trees. The trees are without leaves for six months of the year and in any case an inspection of the sites will reveal that the trees will in no way disguise the masts.

Lastly, this community will not accept mobile phone masts in this neighbourhood because the small spaces targeted by the phone companies, whether on ‘the green’ or the grass verge or in any location on this road, would mean that the masts would simply be too close to houses. And that is completely unacceptable to this community. ‘A mobile phone company’s problem in finding a suitable location for a mast cannot become a problem for this community.’ They must simply seek sites which are further away from houses.

In these respects mobile phone masts are regarded as completely wrong for this neighbourhood. Alienating features are the last thing required for a neighbourhood seeking a strategy for neighbourhood renewal.

For all of these reasons, this community asks for the support of the Oxford city and county council planning authorities in rejecting these proposals.