Confusion over BT mast
TELECOM giant BT left locals in Aberdare baffled after starting work on a phone mast close to Aberdare Park – despite being refused planning permission from the council.
TELECOM giant BT left locals in Aberdare baffled after starting work on a phone mast – despite being refused planning permission by the council.
Residents were surprised when they saw subcontractors beginning work, especially after the application was turned down by Rhondda Cynon Taf council last month.
After ordering workers to stop, RCT council apologised – but residents are annoyed it happened in the first place.
Judy Toms was shocked to find subcontractors for the telecoms giant digging a hole to install a pipe for the mast outside her house on July 11.
The mast – for mobile company Vodafone – was set to be built on the site opposite Aberdare Park near the busy intersection between Hirwaun Road and Broniestyn Terrace, but the plans were turned down by RCT council’s planning committee last month.
The only way for the mast to be given the green light was if BT appealed the decision within six months to the Assembly, which it hasn’t done.
After confronting the workers, Judy phoned the council which was unaware at the time of the work being done.
She said: “I phoned immediately through to the council and the planning department were as amazed as I was. However, they put me onto the enforcement department, who could presumably have stopped them doing it.
“They said they were allowed to do things underground without planning permission. I didn’t think that was a rational answer because this is not just something going on underground, this is something attached to a plan which has been turned down. “
Since calling, Judy has had confirmation from the council the work should never have taken place. But Judy said that wasn’t good enough.
She said: “We’ve had several letters back from the planning department to say that they’ve had an apology, but I’m still concerned that that piece of pipe is still in the ground. They should be made to remove it.
“I don’t think for one minute that they were going to put those cabinets up there and then. However, they’ve obviously predetermined in their mind that the Welsh Assembly will give them permission, otherwise they wouldn’t be putting that pipe in.”
Judy said she was glad the application was turned down because of the problems it would cause local schoolchildren who use that section of land everyday.
She, along with local councillors, started a petition to object to the mast being built which had more than 100 signatures.
She said: “The thing was going to be 15 metres high, about three times the size of my house. It’s right near a school and Newlands, a home for people who can’t quite cope on their own.
“Also it’s a junction – this is already a busy junction here. And you’ve got schoolchildren who are walking to get to their school, so any additional things on that piece of green are going to obscure the view of small children who are using this junction.”
Judy was also upset about the application that had been submitted in the first place – claiming locals had not been consulted about the plans.
She said: “We weren’t satisfied the agent had fulfilled their brief by discussing the matter with the council before they put the application in, although they had ticked the box to say they had done so.
“Also they say they had carried out public consultations which is clearly not right. This has been a very sloppy approach by the agent on behalf of BT.
“It was sloppy to even allow that application to even go in the system when the agent had not fulfilled the brief to discuss it with officers first or to engage with the public – they haven’t done either of those things.”
A spokeswoman for RCT council said: “Rhondda Cynon Taf council can confirm that an application from Vodafone to build a mast in Aberdare was refused at a recent development control committee meeting.
“Planning officers were informed by residents that work had been carried out in the proposed area of the mast. Planning officers responded immediately and it has been confirmed the work should not have taken place and all such work has now ceased.”
A spokesperson for Openreach, which is part of BT, said: “We can confirm that we did follow and apply for all the correct permits when providing the underground works to the mast.
“We have now completed this work, cleared the barriers and reinstated the road.”