Council blocks 5G mast application over appearance

Mobile Broadband Network Ltd applied to install the mast in Otley Road, Guiseley

Plans to install a 5G mobile phone mast have been blocked after councillors raised concerns over its appearance.

Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL) applied to fit the 65ft (20m) pole near Morrisons in Guiseley.

MBNL said the installation, on a footpath off Otley Road, would help maintain EE network coverage in the town.

However, Leeds City Council said the mast, along with nine antenna and an equipment cabinet, would be "overly dominant and out of scale with its surroundings".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a planning officer's report said the mast was higher than nearby street lights and would not blend in with its surroundings.

The report said: "Given its scale and form it would loom over the adjacent highway."

MBNL said an existing mast station in Guiseley town centre was due to be decommissioned, meaning the replacement mast was "required to provide continued mobile coverage to the area".

The proposed site was deemed suitable after an alternative rooftop location could not be found.

But the council report recommended that prior approval planning permission be refused.

It said: "Whilst the benefits of improved telecommunications equipment are noted, these do not outweigh the visual harm in this instance, to which significant weight is attached."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.