Mast not going up say Councillors
A fifty foot high phone mast won't be going up as planned in Kessock industrial site after Councillors turned down the planning application at their area meeting in Banff on Tuesday.
The refusal follows a decision made at the previous area committee meeting of Councillors in Fraserburgh on May 19, to have a site visit. The same concern as expressed then - that the mast could meddle with the regular operation of electronic machinery in the neighbourhood - surfaced in discussion of the application on Tuesday but the planning service discounted the concern as a Health and Safety issue that isn't strictly relevant to planning consideration.
However, sufficient other reasons surfaced in discussion that led to unanimous refusal by Councillors - including unsightliness of the proposed telecommunication construction and the fact that users of a public footpath could be jeopardised by the proposed structure.
Commenting to the 'Herald' after Tuesday's meeting, Fraserburgh and District Councillor Brian Topping said he was happy with the decision to oppose the application.
He felt that he and other Councillors shared the concerns of the representative of the firm of Gray & Adams, the town's biggest employer, who had told the meeting about the company's concern over interference from mobile phone activity and how the firm had applied restrictions on the use of mobile phones on their premises due to risk of electronic machinery malfunctioning.
But said Cllr Topping, he and fellow Councillors had been accepting of the planning service advice about Health & Safety not being admissible as a planning concern. This was understood.
It was applicable planning issue concerns, such as unsightliness, free footpath usage, choice of that particular site and possible alternative site availability, and suchlike, that had convinced the meeting against the proposal.
When asked by the 'Herald' about phone masts being subject to a public perception of risk, albeit unproved, he said there had been numerous instances up and down the country where Health & Safety uncertainty regarding proposed proximity of mobile phone masts being sited, for example, next to schools, in residential areas, and suchlike, had raised concerned debate.
But, said Cllr Topping, the meeting's decision had been necessarily founded on planning issues alone.
Strong representation of concern had been addressed to the meeting, in repeat of correspondence to the Council planning service on behalf of Gray & Adams, who employ around 400 staff at their premises in the Kessock industrial area.
A point repeated at Tuesday's meeting was previously expressed in a letter to the planning service, on the company's behalf, saying: "Integral to our client's business is the operation of some 13 cranes throughout the site by remote wireless communications. These cranes are in constant daily use and there are three such cranes operating in the industrial building immediately adjacent and underneath the proposed mast" and went on to explain how,
"In 2008 the firm had had a serious incident where one of these cranes dropped the load that it was carrying. After an extensive investigation no fault was found with the crane or the operator. Up to this point Gray and Adams had banned the use of mobile phones within the building but not within the perimeter fence. I understand that it is possible that the strong signals from a mobile phone could interfere with the controls of such cranes because they both work within the same frequency band."
Tuesday's application was for full planning permission to erect a 15m monopole; installation of 3 No. 3G antenna and 1 No. 300mm transmission dish, an equipment cabinet, electrical meter cabinet and all ancillary development. The applicant was Vodafone Ltd, per agent: Tyco Electronics Ltd, c/o A & K Solutions, 31 Churchill Drive, Bishopton, Renfrewshire. The Council planning service recommended granting the application as it was not a departure from the Local Plan or Structure Plan and no departure procedures would have applied had Councillors on Tuesday agreed with the Council planners' recommendation.
However, the Councillors refused the application and thereby discounted the recommendation.
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Monday 06 February 2012
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