Call for risk assessment reports to be part of mast licensing process
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Risk assessment reports should be part of the licensing process for telecoms masts in residential areas.
The call from Independent Cork city councillor Paudie Dineen comes ahead of a council ward meeting on Wednesday to discuss the location of another contentious signal boosting mast planned for the Friar’s Walk area of the city.
Residents blocked its installation last week just yards from where another telecoms mast was installed last October. It is due to be located across the road from, and to replace an existing array of signal boosters. A 10-day stay on the work was granted.
Mr Dineen said the standoff over this latest mast highlights again the need for significant reforms of the Section 254 licensing process governing the installation of such structures, which are exempt from planning.
Telecoms companies must instead apply to local authorities for a licence - the same process which governs the installation of a vending machine, a town or landscape map for indicating directions or places, the erection of hoarding, fencing or scaffolding, or an advertisement structure over or along a public road.
Mr Dineen said residents with telecoms expertise in another part of the city where such a mast has been installed say risk assessments should be part of the process.
Meanwhile, a planning report on a licence application from On Tower Ireland Ltd for an 18m mast, and an associated cabinet, on the Boreenmanna Road, shows that it couldn't be co-located with an existing mast.
The new mast was to replace the coverage lost by Three following the demolition of the former Glenanaar Bar for residential redevelopment, and upon which a mast had been located.
The report for the new mast said eir had already placed a “streetwork solution” across the road from the former bar but added: “At this time, the technology for a high-capacity, multi-operator streetworks solution is not available, but progressing through the pilot stages. Therefore, we are not able to co-locate Three’s antennas on the existing Eir solution.”
The planner’s report said while it was noted that the proposed structure is tall and will be visible, a number of lamp-standards and mature trees alongside and nearby "would further assist in reducing the impacts of the proposed structure".
“There is a need to provide continued and improved connectivity to all areas in the interests of current working and social conditions," the report said.