Councillors have rejected plans to put a mobile phone mast on the roof of a landmark seafront building.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee threw out the proposal on behalf of EE and Three for St Margaret’s Court, at the southern end of Rottingdean High Street.
The committee was told that the antenna would replace the “emergency” mast which was put up in the nearby Marine Cliffs car park, in Marine Drive.
The emergency tower went up after the previous mast was removed so that the White Horse pub and hotel could be refurbished.
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh told the committee that temporary structure would have to go by October next year and she urged the phone firms to find a better site.
Councillor Fishleigh, who represents Rottingdean and West Saltdean, said: “We are in a telephone mast merry-go-round in Rottingdean, a tower for an independent company was refused earlier in the year as well as two other masts.
“The fact is that residents and businesses desperately need connectivity.”
At Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Wednesday 4 December), she urged the applicant, Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), to get in touch with her as they look for a suitable site.
She said that she understood why the residents did not want masts on their roof – and Rottingdean is a conservation area, bordered by the South Downs National Park.
St Margaret’s resident Bill Ainscow said that he and his neighbours had spent a lot of money ensuring their locally listed art deco home was maintained to its historic standard.
Mr Ainscow said that there were masts on the roof already and their size and number had increased twice in the past two years.
MBNL’s agent Simon Bucknell, of Dot Surveying, said that St Margaret’s Court was the most obvious site in Rottingdean because of its height – and it already hosted masts.
He said that the emergency services communications networks were moving to EE next year and a lack of network would cause problems for ambulance, fire, police and government services.
Green councillor Sue Shanks voted in favour, saying: “It’s not just about the people who live in that building when you talk about communications. It’s vital for everybody in Rottingdean to have use of mobile phones.
“We’re all sitting here using the wifi and mobile phones. It’s not going to be seen from the front of the building. It’s not seen from the conservation area. But in the end it’s about a balance.”
Labour councillor Tobias Sheard also voted in favour, saying: “I understand the residents’ perspective. I wouldn’t be best pleased if this was effectively going in the area I think of as my garden.
“For people living in taller buildings, this is part of reality. We need high points for these.”
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald voted against the proposal, saying: “This is a lovely building. It’s a locally listed heritage asset and this would look very ugly and be highly visible.
“There’s a lot of equipment on this … and there’s the loss of the communal roof space.”
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey, who represents Rottingdean and West Saltdean, said that alternative sites had not been adequately considered.
He said: “I’m anecdotally aware of at least two other buildings that have come forward to volunteer to be a location.
“At least one of those has hosted these arrays before. Rottingdean did not have a problem with mobile phone capacity until a couple of years ago.”
Labour councillor Alison Thomson said: “It is difficult. We know businesses have been affected. But it does seem like this is not the right spot. I do hope the applicant will find an alternative.”
A report by planning officials recommended refusing the application and the committee did so by eight votes to two.
Locally listed St Margaret’s Court was built in 1938, designed by Richard Jones and built by Charles Neville’s Saltdean Estate Company.
The company also built the grade II* listed Saltdean Lido and grade II listed Ocean Hotel in Saltdean which were also designed by Jones.
Why not put it on the telephone exchange which is just behind the seafront. Easy connectability. No laying of cables.
Why not put it on telephone exchange just behind the seafront.
Good. In an age where everything is getting smaller and smaller why are these ugly things getting larger and larger?
Meantime everyone’s signal seems to be worse than when were on 2G
When you were on 2G you made phone calls. On 4G\5G you stream the football, talk on WhatsApp, pay your bills and do everything you used to do an a computer on a phone. Not surprising the technology has to get bigger to handle that.
It would have happened if dear old Nimrod Ping was still in charge !
Glad to see another group of residents win their fight against private residential home roof thieves EE. These giant telecoms don’t care about the stress they cause homeowners and residents who do not profit from these sites.
They use remote agents who are not local, and just take the easiest cheapest option when scanning maps from their remote offices to choose a site. If the White Horse, which is already a commercial building, has hosted the masts before, it would make sense to host them there again.
There are other options too for 5G rollout, street furniture masts etc. but the big corps just want to maximise profit over better alternatives. The emergency service arguement is a load of BS. A red herring.
Thank goodness the Council put the local residents first and listened to them.
I led the two and half year campaign to fight off MBNL who were trying to steal our roof in Hove..it was incredibly stressful but we won. All.power to Rottingdean.
Cllr Bridget works in the telecoms industry and said to.me at a committee meeting she’d been happy to host a mast on the roof of her home. Perhaps, as a Rottingdean resident, she should step forward and volunteer. Perhaps this is what she meant about alternative sites. Stick in on her house.