Mast that Eir says is needed for Cliffoney is turned down
A MAST which telecommunications service provider Eir says is needed to improve coverage and capacity in the Cliffoney area has been refused planning permission.
Eircom Ltd had applied for planning permission to erect a 20 metre high telecommunications lattice structure and antennaes, dishes and ground equipment at Creevykeel, Cliffoney.
The site is around 1,200 square metres on the Bundoran side of Cliffoney, close to the junction with the Mullaghmore and Ballintrillick roads. There is an existing 12-metre-high wooden communications pole on site and the site is adjacent to an existing compound which contains an exchange building.
There is also an existing 18 metres high monopole beside the site (which is used by Vodafone and Meteor).
Eir said that their new mast was required to improve its service in Cliffoney, to “achieve operational synergies” and to facilitate site sharing with other providers.
It referred to the historical use of the site for telecommuications purposes and referred to the mast used by Vodafone and Meteor but said it “does not achieve Eir’s technical requirements” and therefore sharing was not an option.
They also said that an existing tower at Wardtown, Tullaghan was “too remote from Cliffoney to serve its inhabitants” and that the new mast, which would replace the existing 12 metre high pole, would “bring improved coverage and capacity to residents and businesses in the Cliffoney area”. Eir also said it had no other solution to improving capacity and coverage in the area.
However, the council planner Barry Ward said that while the “technical justification is largely in accordance with national and regional planning guidance”, he was concerned from a visual point of view about the overall height and scale of the 20 metre lattice structure, located between the N15, which is an important scenic route, and the Atlantic ocean. He considered that it would “form an obtrustive and discordant feature at the location and would be seriously injurious to the visual amenity of the area” and that it would have “a negative impact on the landscape and on the protected views of the Atlantic ocean as seen from the N15”.
The planner said the existing structures are clearly visible when approaching from both directions but considered the proposed structure would have a “greater degree of visibility” than them.