A mobile phone mast in Telford will be upgraded to cater for 4G service demands after the plans were backed by councillors.
Members of Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning committee approved proposals to replace the mast in Dawley Green Way, Dawley Bank. The phone mast would be used by Vodafone and O2 network providers.

It comes after a decision on the plans was deferred at a meeting in October after concerns over the protected status of the land.

Though a mast of the same height (17.5m), but with 10cm less width, already stands on the park since it was approved in 2006, the park was given Queen Elizabeth II Parks in Trust status.

Councillors previously deferred the decision on the mast until it could be discovered whether this would have any legal standing over the positioning of the mast.

It has now been confirmed that the mast is outside of the boundary of the designated Fields in Trust and there was no legal designation preventing the development of the site, according to a report to the planning committee.
Speaking against the proposals at a meeting this week, Councillor Shaun Davies, representing Malinslee & Dawley Bank, said there were concerns the mast was situated near two schools.
He added: “There was a huge amount of opposition to this locally last time. This wasn’t the first preference of the phone company.”

He said promises had been made at the time that there would not be any upgrading of the mast.

But Councillor Nicola Lowery said it was a modest proposal. She said: “We need to be providing better 4G coverage and I think this would be the best option to support it in this area.”(from shropshire star)