Work has begun to dismantle a 30m tall phone mast at the bottom of people’s gardens in a South Bristol street, more than four years after it was erected as ‘an emergency measure’ and sparked fury among local residents.
People living in two roads in Ashton, Gerald Road and Smyth Road, have been calling on Bristol City Council to act over the mast, which was erected without warning or planning permission back during the second Covid lockdown in the autumn of 2020.
The phone mast company said it was an emergency, and that it had used special powers to be allowed to erect a mast wherever it was needed, for the next 18 months. The telecom equipment was previously mounted on the roof of the nearby Ashton Gate Stadium, but stadium bosses asked for it to be removed.
So the phone company picked a site at the back of the B&M store on the South Bristol Retail Park next to the stadium, but residents whose homes backed on to the location and who suddenly found a 30m high phone mast just a few feet from their homes, demanded it be removed as soon as possible.
They said that, as well as dominating the view from their homes and towering over their gardens, the plant room at the mast’s base was noisy 24 hours a day.
So that began a four-year saga between the residents, the local council and the phone mast company which continued long after the 18 months the mast was originally supposed to be up for. An alternative site was found, on the roof of a nearby council tower block, but the phone company MBMA tried many different avenues to be allowed to keep the mast on Smyth Road.
They first applied for permanent planning permission, retrospectively, then when it was refused, they appealed against that. Then, when Bristol City Council began enforcement proceedings to get the mast taken down, they appealed against that, taking the council to a planning inspector, who also agreed the mast should not be allowed to stay.
A mast behind B&M Bargains on Winterstoke Road in Bristol, Monday 13 January 2025 which is scheduled for removal.
(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
That was last October, and the firm had until mid-December to remove the mast – which they still didn’t do, despite it being switched off. This weekend, finally, residents saw workmen begin the process of dismantling the mast.
One local resident hailed it as ‘good news’. “This mast has been put up by a company that has completely abused the emergency legislation,” they added.