RESIDENTS are celebrating after saving an area of Godley green space from a 5G phone mast overshadowing it.
Now the hope is to make more of what is known as Vincent Park, which lies at the junction of Stockport Road and Mottram Road.
People were horrified when Cignal Infrastructure UK applied to Tameside Council to place a 20-metre mast with six antennae plus three cabinets adjacent.
However, their work, supported by Cllr Andrea Colbourne, has paid off and rewarded with the application being turned down.
One resident that helped the residents’ fight back – including finding the original deeds to the land left by Vincent Firth – is toasting the achievement.
They said: “It was a bit of a shock when I found out.
“Just before I went to sleep, I thought I’ d check to see where we were up to and the decision notice was there. It’s a really good result.
“We did a number of things. Some door knocking and getting residents to sign a petition. There were issues around the environment, how it would look and the impact on wildlife.
“We submitted copies of the deeds to the council, in which Mr Firth said he wanted to protect that space.
“He made reference to not building anything that would affect how it would look or building up to its boundary.
“A neighbour had them and it was very detailed. We sifted through a pile of documents and submitted them saying we believe it has historic significance and importance as we believe Vincent was a former mayor of Hyde.
“There was also a large sinkhole at the bottom of Sheffield Road a few years ago, leading to concerns over whether the pavement would be able to take its weight.
“It was a bit of a learning curve for me. It’s government infrastructure, so they have to consider it but when it comes to whether its suitable or not, it comes down to evidence.”
Tameside Council in its decision letter said: “It is considered that the proposed development, by virtue of its siting, size, height and external appearance, would be visually incongruous and as a result would have an unacceptable impact on the appearance of the locality.
“Furthermore, the associated equipment cabinets would result in visual clutter within the street scene and to the park entrance.
“On the basis of the available evidence, the Local Planning Authority is not satisfied that the siting and external appearance of the apparatus have been designed and located to minimise their visual impact.”
Now the mast plan has been turfed out, Lyndon and others got together on Friday, August 4 to discuss what to do next.
And hopes are high a group can be formed to help take it further.
“We’re looking at kickstarting Friends of Vincent Park, setting up a community group then looking at vetting some funding to hopefully develop it and take care of it.
“We’ll discuss what we can do as a group to honour Vincent Firth’s legacy. He wanted it as a park – a nice green space for residents to use.
“We’ll also look to improve the maintenance and make it a better space than it is. We could hold events there in the future.
“We wouldn’t be able to develop the park if it was there. It would’ve been very difficult to make it look nice with a 20-metre pole there.
“It wouldn’t have been in keeping with the area either. Some good has come out of it – we’re together and discussing what we can do collectively.”
Dear Editor and cc Gary Carter
Well done those people for protecting Vincent Park.
Many base stations around the country are being refused and for very good reason, I estimate at least half overall and In some cities it is as high as 70%. Most of those approved are done so against the majority wishes of the local community. In many cases it is decided by a single person, either the Council Case Officer under Delegated Powers or a non-local Planning Inspector who can over-ride even the Planning Committee. Democratic?
I note this was in 2023 and hope this also was not appealed to the Inspectorate. The company has 6 months in which to do that and the Applicant company is the same one as in Denton simply renamed.
I note there (Denton Nov 2022) the Council refusal was overruled, with “I attach substantial weight to the social and economic benefits that would result “. Yet Mr Jones has not demonstrated proof of that statement. Planning applications should be true and accurate, not speculative and that reason is pure speculation. There has been much hype about the social and economic benefits of 5G underlying many applications, yet none of that hype has been justified. 5G is not essentially for a faster smartphone service. The ultimate speeds advertised by the industry are for machine-to-machine connections, not person-to-person.
Of course, this is not simply a Tameside issue; it is a national issue as ultimately they will all be linked together, along with units on lamp-posts, telegraph poles and the new ‘smart poles’. This will give a mesh of connected transmitter/receivers around the country.
An additional issue with this company is that the safety (self)-certificate (called ICNIRP) may have been issued in the name of a non-existing, dissolved company. I have found hundreds of these all round the country, you can see this most easily on this video https://youtu.be/0JHmexC1bYw
A letter about this has been sent to every LPA by ACHES (Adult Child Health and Environment Support) though most are currently ignoring it or arguing it doesn’t matter. (Think about that.)
I can give you (as a journalist) much more information about that situation as well as practical advice to pass on the the residents near Vincent Park and elsewhere in the district to arm them against more mast (now called base stations) applications. (Or my letter will be a long one!)
I look forward to your reply. (Happy to speak – 07793908790)