Company to fight council over refusal of 5G mast in Great Barr
A telecommunications company has launched an appeal against Walsall Council over the installation of a 5G mast in Great Barr.
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Walsall Council refused an application for a 17.5-metre mast with six antennas, two microwave dishes, and two ground-level equipment cabinets in August 2024.
Applicant Cornerstone, the telecommunications infrastructure company supporting Virgin Media, O2 and Vodafone, wanted to install the mast outside the Make a Wish cake shop on Hillingford Avenue, Pheasey.
The council refused the plans as the mast ‘would appear incongruous on the street scene and be visually detrimental, especially to those in nearby residential properties’.
It was the second application Cornerstone submitted to install a mast at the site.
The first application, submitted in February 2024, was to build a similar scheme but with a mast 20 metres in height.
It was refused by Walsall Council planning officers on similar grounds, that it would appear incongruous in the street scene and would be detrimental to the amenity of nearby residents.
Cornerstone felt that the two and a half metre reduction in height for the latest application would ‘significantly reduce’ the visual impact of the development.
In 2020, Cornerstone submitted an application for a 20-metre monopole on nearby Collingwood Drive, which Walsall Council approved.
But Cornerstone said the installation of the mast couldn’t go ahead due to ‘unforeseen conflict with the underground services’.
In response to the latest refusal, Cornerstone appealed to the planning inspectorate, believing Walsall Council hasn’t given consideration to the similar nearby scheme that was approved.
Cornerstone argued that the council’s planning officers failed to recognise the limitations faced by the company in terms of the location requirements and site availability.
It also said that the council had focused on the development’s proximity to residential properties, rather than considering site specific mitigation, or balancing potential harm against the associated benefits of the development.
Final representations from the council and Cornerstone are due before April 1, 2025. The date for the inquiry is still to be decided.
