5G mast plan for Shrewsbury verge would 'kibosh' road plans - claim

Infrastructure UK Limited - who operate the Three brand - want to put a green 52 ft tall mast with six antenna on a verge in Roman Road, which is close to Shrewsbury independent school.

They say that the local network to support connected devices is creaking under the strain of people who want to connect.

The mast, they say would fill a hole in coverage and that they have looked at putting it elsewhere but this site is the best option.

Town councillors however have other ideas, reckoning that having a big mast and associated cabinets on Roman Road would "narrow the potential to re-do the roads in the area."

Councillor Nat Green said the mast would completely "put the kibosh" on roadworks.

A meeting of the town council's planning committee on Tuesday also heard a claim that the mobile phone networks are not doing enough to publicise their plans. The town has seen a number of similar applications in recent months.

On this application the councillors noted that "no public comments" have been made on this particular plan.

Town councillors, who are being asked for their views as part of Shropshire Council consultation process, decided to raise their concerns on highways and amenity grounds.

Not only will there be a mast but there will be three associated cabinets, which they say will harm the area.

In its submission to the council, lodged on August 3, the company says the demand for mobile data in the UK is increasing rapidly, and the infrastructure must be in place to ensure supply does not become a constraint on future demand.

"The radio base station will also meet the extra demands on the network in this area as more people use internet enabled handheld devices," its submission reads.

"It is a densification project for the operator’s network to fill holes in service provision including coverage and capacity.

"This will enable the operator’s customers to be able to use their handheld devices without calls being dropped or buffering occurring where there is a gap in the operator’s network coverage and capacity ability.

"A site in this location will fill the gap in service provision and provide high quality, reliable, advanced 3G, 4G and 5G to this urban area of Shrewsbury."

A spokesperson for Three said the local 5G rollout is vital for residents and businesses in Shrewsbury.

The spokesperson said: “5G rollout is vital for residents and businesses of Shrewsbury.

"We want to offer the community a reliable network experience and this site will be critical to making that happen.

"We carry out extensive searches and evaluate a wide range of options before submitting any planning applications.

"While we try to keep mast sites as unobtrusive as possible, they do need to be situated near to where people will be using the service and, in many cases, in precise locations to ensure the widest breadth of coverage.”

The company says it sent pre-application letters to local councillors and a school in June and submitted the plan on August 3 after receiving no response, it confirmed.

Comments can be made on the Shropshire Council planning website with the reference number 23/03401/TEL here: pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RYRZKMTDJ1X00

The application is for what is known as prior approval which is a process that confirms such a plan can go ahead unless there are overwhelming reasons for refusal.

There is a deadline of September 28 for the application to be determined.