New 25-metre telecommunications mast approved despite local impact concerns

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

A new telecommunications mast has been approved despite local concerns about its visual impact and its proximity to nearby homes.

Measuring 25 metres tall, the mast will be installed on land owned by Transport for Wales (TfW) to the north of the Rhymney’s railway station.

A Caerphilly County Borough Council planning report shows the mast’s main purpose will be to support TfW’s infrastructure, including more reliable communications along the railway line.

The mast will also lead to “an improvement in general mobile connectivity”, including 4G and 5G coverage for the area – but the report stresses this is “not the principal driver for the proposed development”.

During a recent consultation period, a handful of objections – including from Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney MP Nick Smith, according to the report – focused on the impact of the mast on the surrounding area.

Objectors argued plans for new homes nearby had been overlooked, and said the mast would be “overbearing” and “visually intrusive”.

They also asked whether alternative sites would have been better suited to a mast, and questioned “whether the wider community of Rhymney is fully aware of the proposal”.

In their assessment, council planning officers noted the applicant, Atlas Tower Group, described the proposed mast site as “the only technically viable and operationally accessible site within the defined search area identified by TfW”.

They accepted the site’s proximity to TfW’s infrastructure made it a “justified and appropriate” location for the mast.

Visual impact

Visual impact concerns were considered, and the mast is expected to rise above the surrounding treeline, but the planners judged there was no “persuasive evidence that the visibility of the mast would detrimentally affect the amenity of nearby recreational facilities or neighbouring residential properties”.

A 25-metre mast “reflects the minimum operational height necessary to serve Rhymney Station, the railway corridor, and the wider technical search area”, they added.

On concerns the wider community was not aware of the project, the planners said a site notice had been put up in the railway station car park, but there was no need for the applicant to send out letters about the mast because “there are no residential properties that share a boundary with the application site”.