Newark Town Council planning committee object to Hawton Road broadband mast and cabinet plans

Resubmitted plans to retain a broadband mast and cabinets were met with a poor reception after previously being rejected.

Newark Town Council planning committee agreed to oppose the latest application from Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd to retain a broadband mast and cabinets on the junction of Hawton Road and Grange Road, which it is claimed obstructs the view of road users.

Retrospective planning permission was previously sought and refused in August after it was considered the proposals were not built within the original proposed plans and insufficient information was provided in regards to safety and visibility concerns.

The latest application was for the retention of a 20metre monopole supporting six antennas, a wrap around equipment cabinet at the base of the column and the installation of three new equipment cabinets.

David Lloyd said: “The original application was granted in August 2020 subject to further information being supplied but wasn’t and built anyway.

“Retention was also refused in August of this year and it perplexes me that as far as I can see the application itself in terms of words, the physical location, sighting, height, etc, is identical.

“The only thing I think they’ve done this time is to provide a speed survey, the requested methodology and visibility splays.

“The speed methodology reveals that 29% of vehicles going one way down Hawton Road were exceeding 30mph and 30% going the other way were exceeding 30mph. So as far as an assessment of speed goes, just under one in three is speeding, which suggests that it is indeed a junction that needs half decent visibility.

“If you looks at the visibility splays shown, they only account for traffic coming south, the cabinets and the monopole. I don’t think they’ve taken into account the fact that because it is there, people might pay too much attention looking one way and not the other.”

The committee unanimously opposed the application because of concerns over the weakness of the speed methodology used in the supporting documents.

The opposition is in accordance with comments from the Highways Authority.