North Walsham Tetra Mast Inquiry Grants Planning Permission

A Planning Inspector has granted planning permission for the Tetra telecommunications mast at North Walsham police station, ruling that the mast can stay and be operated as there was no reason to set aside Government policy on phone masts in this case.

However the inspector found, after a two-day planning inquiry in August, that North Norfolk District Council had not acted unreasonably through the planning process for the Tetra gear, and spared the Council from paying costs.

In 2004, North Norfolk District Council issued an enforcement notice ordering MMO2 Airwave, the mast's operators, to switch off and dismantle new equipment on the Yarmouth Road site, which was part of the emergency services' Tetra telecommunications system. The Council insisted the equipment had needed, but had not been given, planning permission.

MMO2 Airwave appealed against the enforcement notice, and was successful in January 2005. The mast has been in operation ever since. Local campaigners, who objected to the mast on health grounds, challenged that decision in the High Court in May last year. The High Court then ordered this new inquiry into the original enforcement notice.

Last month's inquiry found that the possibility of alternative sites had been fully explored (and ruled out) by MMO2 Airwave, and that, while there continue to be grounds for concern over the health risks posed by phone masts, the current Government guidance based on the weight of scientific evidence should be followed. So the appeal, and planning permission, should be allowed. But the Inspector, Steven Fox, said in his decision not to award costs sought by Airwave: "There is no suggestion that there were any procedural irregularities or that [the Council's] conduct otherwise amounted to unreasonable behaviour."

North Walsham District Councillor Virginia Gay, who is also Cabinet Member for Development Control and who gave evidence at the inquiry, said: "We did our best throughout this saga to represent the wishes of local people within the confines of the planning system, and to seek the cooperation of Airwave in doing so.

"While it is disappointing to lose - hugely so for those people who did not want the Tetra system broadcasting near them - it is some comfort that the Council has been seen to have acted reasonably and professionally, and the taxpayer has been spared the burden of costs running as high as six figures, as other councils have found."

• For a copy of the decision, call the Planning Inspectorate's press office on 020 7944 4613

ENDS