South Wales Evening Post - 25 September 2008
A delay of just 24 hours has meant a controversial mobile phone mast has been allowed to stay up in Swansea's Townhill area.
Assembly planing inspector Clive Nield ruled that Swansea Council was one day late in telling telecommunications giant Vodafone that permission for the mast to be installed on land at the junction of Dyfed Avenue and Ceiriog Road had been refused.
The delay meant that Vodafone could ignore the council's ruling and put the mast up anyway, and now has successfully appealed against a further council order to take the mast down.
In his report, Mr Nield said: "There is no doubt the council failed to meet the requirement for notification of its decision within the prescribed 56-day period. Thus, the development in question is deemed to have been approved."
The planing application for the 10ft pole was received by the council on July 9 last year, meaning it had until September 2 of the same year to decide whether to grant permission, and to inform the company.
Vodafone stated that though the decision to refuse permission was made in a public meeting on August 21, the notice of that decision was not received until September 3.
The council argued that it made its decision well within the time limit, and the delivery of the formal notice was delayed because of a weekend.
Mr Nield stated "That excuse is not good enough."
The application for a mobile phone mast sparked a residents' revolt and 160-signature petition handed in to council officials.
They voiced fears over the possible impact on the health of local people, and called on councillors to reject the proposals.
A spokesman for Swansea Council said: "The council is disappointed with the decision and we are currently looking at the details of the inspector's report in order to consider our position."
