Cork councillors call for greater transparency around telecoms mast licensing

Telecoms masts are exempt from planning, there is no requirement on the applicant to erect a site notice in advance or to place an ad in a newspaper

Cllrs Sean Martin and Paudie Dineen with residents of Friars Walk who recently blocked the installation of a second telecoms mast in six months outside a house. The first mast is visible in the background. Residents and local public representatives often only find out that a mast is being installed in their area when work crews arrive on-site to install it. 

Greater transparency is needed around the licensing system governing the installation of telecoms masts, councillors in Cork have said.

They spoke out following confirmation from city officials that they are to be informed by email when decisions are made to either approve or reject a license application for the erection of the masts designed to boost mobile coverage blackspots and to help with large-scale data downloading.

Such masts are exempt from planning and unlike a ‘regular’ planning application, there is no requirement on the applicant to erect a site notice in advance or to place an ad in a newspaper, which means there is no opportunity for people to object or make a submission.

Telecoms companies simply apply to a local authority for a section 254 license - the same licensing system used by pubs and restaurants to place tables and chairs on the streets.

Residents and local public representatives often only find out that a mast is being installed in their area when work crews arrive on-site to install it.  The local authority decision can be appealed to An Bórd Pleanala.

The issue came to light in April when residents in the Friar’s Walk area of Cork city blocked attempts to install a second telecoms mast less than 20ft from where one had been installed just six months earlier.

Councillors in the city’s southwest ward have lodged an appeal with An Bórd Pleanála against the decision to grant that licence.

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However, the Irish Examiner revealed in May that the former deputy chair of An Bord Pleanála, Paul Hyde, voted to override his own planning inspectors in the vast majority of appeals in relation to these masts over the past two years.

Independent Cllr Paudie Dineen said the entire section 254 process, as it relates to telecoms masts, needs to be completely overhauled. He said the public should have sight of and input into the decision-making process.

“There needs to be improved transparency and openness around the entire decision-making process, and accountability for the decisions that are then made for these things being installed,” he said.

City officials said while there is no provision in the legislation for public notices or for submissions from the public to be considered by the planning authority, and no role for the elected members in the section 254 licence process, the council’s planning management section will advise local councillors by email when a decision is made on a section 254 licence for telecommunications infrastructure in their ward.