Telecom masts ‘3 giraffes high’ being erected overnight
A Cork County Councillor has called for transparency around the licensing process for the erection of unsightly telecommunication masts on public ground.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council, Independent Cllr Marcia D’Alton said the public is not being forewarned of the construction of telecoms masts on public ground in county Cork.
The Carrigaline councillor described current policy in the county as “grossly unfair and secretive” and said it means a person could go to sleep and wake up to find a mast of up to 25 metres in height has been erected near their home.
Ms D’Alton urged the council’s executive to follow the example of Dublin City Council which has adopted a separate license application form for telecoms infrastructure which requires that the public be made aware of plans to erect masts and invites them to make submissions and lodge complaints.
Currently, Cork City Council emails elected members when a decision is made on the granting of a license for a mast and also posts all applications on its website. Cork County Council currently does neither.
“A few weeks ago, an 18-metre monopole and cabinet was erected on a Friday evening at the entrance to a big housing estate in Passage West,” said Cllr D’Alton.
She continued: “18 metres is about six stories, about three giraffes high. It’s a significant visual impact which many residents saw first when coming home from work that evening.
“Horrified, they turned to their local councillors for answers, but the local councillors had no answers as they knew nothing about the license which had been granted 15 months prior to the mast’s erection,” added Cllr D’Alton.
Ms D’Alton said that any application on private land must, if the mast is greater than 12 metres in height, go through the planning process in the usual way. However, an application on public land has no height restrictions and simply requires the granting of a license from the local authority under Section 254 of the Planning and Development Act.
She explained: “Section 254 was originally drafted for things like street furniture, tables and chairs, hoardings, and signposts, and then it was amended to include telecommunication infrastructure such as masts.
“Once the mast has received a Section 254 license, the applicant can simply rock up and build it,” said Cllr D’Alton.
Ms D’Alton asked that Cork County Council adopt a policy whereby all Section 254 license applications are published on its website, a site notice is erected by the applicant, and the public is affording a period of consultation.
In a written response to Cllr D’Alton’s motion, Padraig Barrett, Director of Services, Planning & Development at Cork County Council said: “There is currently no provision under Section 254 that requires either erection of a site notice or public consultation and any such requirement may prove unwieldy, excessive, and potentially expensive given the nature of the items covered under this section.”