Planning inspector throws out appeal over plan to erect 16m phone mast near retirement home in Lye

Dudley Council rejected the plan last year for the mast and three ancillary cabinets on Pedmore Road, close to the Elizabeth House retirement living complex.

A government planning inspector has now thrown out an appeal against the decision from Gallivan of CK Hutchison Networks (UK), who claimed the site was the only suitable location in the area.

While the inspector concluded the cabinets would not be a problem, they decided the mast was too much for the location.

The inspector’s report said: “The proposed 16m street pole would protrude significantly above Elizabeth House and any of the vertical features.

“The proposal would appear as an uncharacteristic and discordant feature within the street scene that would unacceptably harm the character and appearance of the area.”

The inspector was not impressed by the argument that other sites had been considered and found to be not suitable.

While accepting the need for 5G coverage the inspector found the appellant provided limited information to support their assertion the Pedmore Road site was the only option.

The report concludes: “The appellant sets out that there was an extremely constrained cell search area, and six other sites were considered and discounted.

“Most of these seem similar to the appeal site with comparable issues such as being adjacent to the primary school and overlooked by residential housing, but it is not clear why these would be more harmful than the proposed location.

“Therefore, the information is insufficiently compelling or robust to show that this is the only site on which the proposed development could be located.”