5G Mast Installed In Lewes Without Permission, Council Confirms

A 5G mast installed by Three in Lewes does not have planning permission, Lewes District Council has confirmed.

Deirdre Daly, a teacher who leads after-school classes at the school, said:

“The mast has been built right beside Wallands School, and young children playing in the nursery playground are just a few metres away from it. A mast in this location should never have been permitted in the first place, but what they’ve built is even more intrusive than in the original plans and it’s in the wrong position.”

Residents spotted these problems as soon as the mast was installed last October, but it was only after a concerted effort by a local action group, with more than 800 people signing a petition for the mast’s removal, that Lewes District Council officers agreed to take action.

The action group is supported by a cross-party group of councillors, including Nicky Blackwell, James Gardiner, Nick Tigg and Kevin West, the new Mayor of Lewes Matthew Bird, and Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Lewes James MacCleary.

Councillor Blackwell, said:

“Lewes Town Council opposed the planning application for this mast from the start. The mast sits just a few metres from the school and nursery and is right in the middle of one of the South Downs National Park protected views. We can see this intrusive, ugly mast from houses all over the Nevill estate and from the Landport Bottom nature reserve. It’s more prominent than Lewes Castle.”

Paul Miller, who has a child in the nursery, said:

“Parents at the school were so shocked to see this mast go up. We had no warning and later found out that the school was notified using a generic email address only weeks before the summer recess.

"It looks like Three deliberately timed their application to avoid any consultation with the school or the parents. By the time we came back from the summer break, the contractors had already started. It’s an absolutely shocking disregard of the rules around sensitive sites.”

Since the mast went up, residents have been busy poring over the planning documents and consulting lawyers. They recently sent a 55-page letter to Lewes District Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, highlighting the catalogue of errors and omissions in both the application and the planning process.

“We are still waiting for answers to many questions about the original planning process,” says local resident Vivian Vignoles.

“We are hoping the District Council will draw the obvious conclusion from the details we provided – that a decision that was based on inaccurate and misleading information cannot have been soundly made.”

“I am heartened by the community spirit and the detailed work that the residents of Nevill and Wallands have put into opposing this eyesore and I am happy to have been able to support their action,” says Councillor Kevin West. “To be clear, this is not about whether 5G is or isn’t safe: all masts must have appropriate planning permission and the requested permission does not match what has been built. It must come down.”

Leigh Palmer, Head of Planning at Lewes District Council, said:

“The Council acknowledge that the mast in situ does not benefit from any consent and are pursuing this matter with the scheme proposers.”

Three must now either remove the mast or submit a retrospective planning application.