Victory for Amington residents in phone mast battle

THERE has been a victory for residents protesting against a telephone mast being put up in their street after town planners turned down the application.

Tamworth Borough Council's planning committee voted against having the 10m high mast in Brindley Drive, to the rear of Selker Drive, Amington, but said they would work with applicants Vodafone UK to find a suitable alternative site – across the street has been put forward as a possibility.

The committee went against its planning officers' advice to refuse the application at a meeting on Wednesday night.

Their decision came after hearing the arguments of angry residents, who were all against the mast.

Lawrence Bright, who lives in Selker Drive, said residents had not been properly informed of the facts, and that the area was already saturated with telephone masts.

"We are going to end up with masts all the way down this place," he told the planning committee.

"We have already got three masts in the local area."

Carol Townsend, also of Selker Drive: said: "My lounge is adjacent to where the mast will be, as is my child's bedroom window and I have concerns about that."

Fears were also raised that a colony of bats, which residents say are nesting in a nearby tree, could be disturbed by the mast.

Vodafone now has the option to either appeal against the committee's decision or submit an alternative application for the mast's location.

For more on this story see the December 18 edition of the Tamworth Herald – in the shops now. Also in this week's edition – 16-page Christmas TV Guide and 20 pages of school Nativity pictures.