Planning officers at South Gloucestershire Council have refused permission for a 15m-high 5G mobile phone mast to be installed on the corner of Baileys Court Road and Webbs Wood Road (opposite Baileys Court Inn).
The mast, along with two ground-based equipment cabinets and a meter cabinet, would be located in the grass verge that is backed by a wall which stands between the roundabout and Burden Close.
The decision, made under delegated powers, is the fourth straight refusal in a series of similar applications for sites within Bradley Stoke that have been made by or on behalf of the Three mobile phone network.
Assessing the latest application (P23/01251/PN1), officers say the proposed mast’s impact on visual amenity cannot be justified by the technical benefit it would bring. This is despite the applicant claiming that the site represents “the most viable solution that minimises amenity issues” … in the “extremely constrained cell search area” within which a mast needs to be located in order to fill a gap in signal coverage.
In the ‘Analysis’ section of their report, officers write:
“The proposed pole would be 15m in height and would be much taller than all the other development and tree planting in the area, being approximately twice the height of the surrounding street lights. The undeveloped green bank which provides a positive contribution to the character of the area would also be eroded in visual amenity value, appearing somewhat cluttered in the streetscape due to the combination of proposed cabinets and pole.”
“Due to the fairly open nature of the wider vicinity, the proposed pole due to its excess height would be visible in mid to longer distance views and would not respect or enhance the character of the area. This would result in harm and it is considered that this unreasonable impact is not justified by technical need and supporting details in the application for this particular site.”
“In policy terms proposals should be sited, designed and landscaped so as to minimise any negative impact upon the built and natural environment. The proposals fail to achieve these requirements. The design, siting and overall appearance of the proposals are therefore considered unacceptable.”
Bradley Stoke Town Council, as a consultee, had similarly objected to the proposed Baileys Court mast on the grounds of it being “out of keeping with the street scene and detrimental to the visual amenity”.
The applicant has the right to appeal the local authority’s decision within six months.
Previous mobile phone mast planning applications for sites in Bradley Stoke that have been refused by South Gloucestershire Council since the start of 2021 include:
- A 20m-high mast on Winterbourne Road, near the Hatchet Road Roundabout (P21/02177/PN1, submitted March 2021)
- A 16m-high mast on Bradley Stoke Way, between Stoke Brook Bridge and Webbs Wood Roundabout (P21/06605/PN1, submitted October 2021)
- A 15m-high mast on Woodlands Lane, near the Pear Tree Roundabout (P22/06406/PN1, submitted November 2022)
Above: Map showing locations of planning applications made for mobile phone masts in Bradley Stoke since January 2021.
Two of the above applications (#1 and #2) were subsequently allowed by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal, but neither of these masts has been installed yet.
