Story by Nick Jackson 02/08/2024
Wigan MP and new culture secretary Lisa Nandy has said that more regulation may be introduced to prevent telecoms poles being erected in neighbourhoods without planning permission. Her comments were made in the run-up to the General Election ahead of four sites in her home town being earmarked by a telecoms company for the siting of masts which will be 50ft high.
Legislation introduced by the last government allow the masts to be installed without planning permission from local authorities if they are 50ft high or below. Ms Nandy said: “[Telecoms poles] are a small but significant chunk of my caseload here in Wigan.
“It’s not just telecoms poles. We also had a woman who had a huge light put up outside her home along the edge of the motorway. It was on 24 hours a day, shining directly into her house. It was one hell of a battle to get them to remove it, and they have now.
“It was absolutely unbelievable that you could do that to someone’s life without needing permission at all. It is a big issue and my view is that we do need to have better regulation around it.”
She said her colleague, Andrew Gwynne, who is Labour’s MP for Gorton and Denton led a debate about the issue in parliament recently. “It’s a very common experience across the country,” she said.
Wigan’s planning portal has had three notifications of telecoms poles with accompanying cabinets for the electronic equipment being erected this week alone. One is on a footpath adjacent to Hindley Swimming Baths on Mornington Road.
Another will go on a grass verge at the corner of Old Road and Wigan Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield. A third one is at the Town Green Community Garden at Bolton Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
Two weeks ago, the same company behind all the masts – Blackburn-based IX Wireless Ltd – notified the council it would erect one on a grass verge on Hillside Avenue in Atherton. A planning statement submitted to Wigan’s planning portal by IX said: “Ensuring the wide availability of high-speed gigabit capable broadband is a central part of the government’s national infrastructure strategy.
“Both the government and OFCOM recognise the significant commercial and social benefits to improved telecommunications infrastructure and the government has set a target that at least 85 per cent of the UK will have a gigabit-capable broadband connection available by 2025 and at least 99pc by 2030.” IX says 20pc of its network bandwidth capacity is intended for use in relation to digital social inclusion initiatives.