25m high phone mast in Pinner suggested to fix Rayners Lane blunder (From Harrow Times)

25m high phone mast in Pinner suggested to fix Rayners Lane blunder

11:26am Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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PLANS for a controversial 11.5m phone mast in Pinner allowed after a Harrow Council blunder could be shelved, and replaced with a mast more than twice its size.

Desperate council officers have been bargaining with phone company Orange to stop the phone mast being erected on a treasured patch of grass at the junction of Rayners Lane and Grove Road.

It would have been built after planning permission was accidentally granted because officers failed to notify Orange its application had been refused.

However, a plan has been hatched to allow the mobile phone giant to build a 25m high phone mast in Chapel Lane Car Park instead.

The news will appease furious Rayners Lane residents who were told the phone mast application had been turned down, only to later find out an administrative mistake had let it slip through.

The council has been in negotiations with Orange since the blunder was revealed, and the site in Chapel Lane is the only one which the phone company are prepared to accept as an alternative.

It means Orange will only build this one mast, with six accompanying equipment cabinets, to cover the whole of Pinner, and shelve long term plans for three smaller masts in the town including one in the area of Bridge Street.

A council report released today shows the Pinner Association and local councillors have been consulted over the plans, but residents near Chapel Lane have not yet been asked what they think.

There is also no word on a 12.4m high Vodafone mast in St Thomas' Drive, Hatch End, which was allowed against the council's wishes after a similar error.

Residents in Hatch End were also up in arms about the mistake, and have no seen signs so far that the phone company is planning to scrap its plans.

A report is due to go before Harrow Council's cabinet next Thursday suggesting leasing Orange a patch of land in Chapel Lane Car Park for the next 15 years.