GREEN LIGHT FOR INSTALLATION OF TELEPHONE MAST DESPITE RESIDENTS' OBJECTIONS

                                             

Cllr Mickleburgh: "Town-dwellers should expect development"

A CONTROVERSIAL proposal to install a communications mast and cabins in a green and pleasant part of  Grimsby has been given the go-ahead.

By eight votes to three, North East Lincolnshire Council planners approved the application by Hutchison UK Ltd to erect the 15-metre monopole, with 5G antennae  and "wraparound" cabinets, on a highway verge on  Great Coates Road adjacent to the John Whitgift Academy playing field

The firm is keen to enhance its coverage as part of a roll-out of 5G communication for users of smart cellphones.

Moving approval, Cllr Tim Mickleburgh said people living in towns should expect to see new developments in their vicinity, and this project would be of technological benefit.

However, there were many objections to the application, notably from residents of nearby Mayfair Drive West and Waby Drive who fear the "parkland" appearance of the area will be spoiled.

In a report on the project, Engie case officer Jonathan Cadd, recommended approval, stating: "Mobile phone masts are now an accepted part of modern street furniture."

It is understood the monopole and cabinets will be painted green.

The Grimsby News says: It is hard not to feel that residents - and passers-by - have been short-changed by this outcome. The installation will undoubtedly have a detrimental impact on the street scene. As has already happened in many other scenically sensitive locations in the country, the proposed monopole could easily be disguised as a tree in order better to fit in with its surroundings. Planning officers and the committee should have insisted that the applicants come back with a less intrusive proposal. Instead, they have given in without so much as a hint of a struggle.