Look out, you could have a mast on your doorstep

Published: 21 April, 2011

• RESIDENTS are fighting a battle with Vodafone over its plans to erect a 15-metre mobile phone mast at the corner of Dalmeny Avenue and Carleton Road, Holloway. Although Islington Council has turned down the original planning application, and despite strong local opposition, Vodafone has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, which is processing the appeal. 

I am writing to warn residents to stay vigilant because Vodafone seems to have plans for similar masts in other parts of the borough. 

To site this kind of equipment in a purely residential area is highly insensitive. Residents go to a great deal of trouble to look after their gardens and properties, as well as the surrounding streets. And only two years ago, the council spent many thousands of pounds re-modelling and landscaping the corner where Vodafone wants to put the mast. 

Vodafone’s claim that it will blend in with, and have minimal impact on, the surroundings is manifestly untrue. 

The site is very open and prominent, and the mast will have a major, and wholly negative, impact on a relatively wide area. What it describes as a “simple metal pole” will be topped by six antennae and will reach a height of 14.8 metres (the houses in Trecastle Way are about 10 metres high). 

From the very beginning, Vodafone has sought to underplay the size of the mast. Originally, it was claimed it would have two antennae. This was then increased to six. 

And the drawing of the mast vis-a-vis the houses in Trecastle Way, which accompanied the planning application, seriously under-represents its height compared to the houses.

Vodafone claims this is the only suitable site. This is clearly untrue and we have offered to meet its consultants to point out alternatives. 

But this offer has not been taken up, which reinforces our belief that Vodafone is simply going through the motions of consulting residents. 

Despite many letters and a petition opposing the mast, Vodafone is pressing on with its appeal in the hope that it can ride roughshod over the many residents who will have to live with this eyesore.

We have made it clear we have no objection to new technology and the structures needed to make it work. But we expect companies with the enormous resources of Vodafone to ensure its structures are sited in appropriate areas and with sensitivity. 

Anyone who visits the corner of Dalmeny Avenue and Carleton Road will see that the proposed site fails miserably on both counts.

HERMANN GILLES
Trecastle Way, N7