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Published:
May 17, 2006
Seafront
move for Burnham-On-Sea mobile phone given thumbs down
Plans
for a phone mast in Burnham-On-Sea to be moved onto the town's
seafront have been turned down by town planners this week.
 Burnham
town council's planning committee discussed the matter on Tuesday
night and suggested that the 15 metre-high mast be sited at the
rear of Somerfield supermarket instead.
Two
residents who live near the Marine Rescue Centre on the seafront
- where O2 had proposed the mast be located - addressed the meeting
to object against the plans.
Sheila
Smith told councillors: "It's difficult to find a more detrimental
place for this mast than on the seafront."
"This
is planning by stealth. There's been no consultation of local
people; just one A4 sized poster placed on a lamp post nearby."
"We
strongly object to the mast being sited here and suggest it goes
to another location, such as the Yacht Club, away from the seafront."
Committee
chairman Peter Clayton said: "A number of different locations
have been investigated, including Burnham Yacht Club, Broadhurst
Gardens, Oxford Street and even Sunspot Amusements, but in each
case the sites have not provided the desired coverage."
But
Councillor Ken Smout said: "There are always going to be
problems with coverage in a built-up area where there are lots
of dwellings."
He
added: "I have to say that I don't notice the mast in its
current location on Marine Drive any longer - you just get used
to it and forget it's there after a while - and I live not too
far away."
 "People
should remember that these masts are not there to look nice, they're
supposed to be technically effective."
He
suggested that the rear of the Somerfield supermarket, pictured
right, could be a suitable location, although the owners of the
Play Centre in Pier Street are likely to be object.
The
Planning Committee is to ask for a feasability study to be conducted
on other alternative locations for the mast in town.
The
meeting came after mobile
phone operator O2 submitted a pre-planning enquiry in
April
asking to move the mast from Marine Drive, pictured at the top
of this page, to the Marine Rescue Centre on the seafront.
An
enforcement order was placed on it, demanding that the structure
be moved because it has been in place for more than six months.
The
mast was introduced onto Marine Drive last autumn after the structure
at Pepperal Road in Highbridge was removed, leaving the town with
poor quality mobile phone coverage and hampering communications
for marine rescue teams.
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