Planning curbs on phone masts eased

Mobile telephone companies will be able to erect masts on public, commercial and industrial buildings without planning permission under regulations prepared by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey.

The significant change in the law is contained among the 300 pages of regulations needed to implement the Planning and Development Act, which was passed by the Oireachtas last year.

The proposal is set to bring the Minister into conflict once more with TDs, who are frequently faced with demands by residents' groups to oppose attempts by Eircell, Digifone and Meteor to put up masts.

Fianna Fβil TD Mr Sean Fleming said the Minister's action was "an outrage", adding that the existing exemptions, which allow masts to be erected on some Garda stations without planning, should be abolished.

"There was a great case for them five years ago. But now we have two million subscribers. No private industry should be singled out and given exemptions from the law in this way," he declared.

The change is contained in Class 31 of Schedule II of the regulations and will also cover telephone antennae placed in time on telegraph poles, lamp-posts, flagpoles and CCTV poles.

The Irish Planning Institute yesterday said the exemptions "are far too wide-ranging and permissive" and "substantially affect" the balance between the needs of industry and the need to protect planning laws.

If passed unamended, the exemption would "virtually remove" any need for planning permissions for masts in built-up areas, including schools and churches and "on virtually any pole on any street", declared the institute.

Direct action by the public "on a scale not seen heretofore" would be likely "since the public would be debarred from objecting in the normal way through the planning laws", it said.

Usually, ministers do not have to consult before they produce regulations.

The Minister, however, gave a commitment to the Dβil last year that he would show these ones in advance to the Oireachtas Committee.

The Department of Public Enterprise pushed for the exemption in negotiations with the Minister, arguing that Ireland's telecommunications industry was developing too slowly.

"The decision has been taken on the basis of economic need. We need these things to give us a telephone system that is as good as anywhere in the world," said a spokesperson for the Minister..

Currently, there are 4,000 masts in the Republic. However, opposition to more has become particularly acute in Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.

"These are the very areas that need mobiles most," complained one industry source last night.

A significant number of extra masts will be needed if third-generation mobile services are to be developed properly, industry sources indicated last night: "Masts should be regarded as infrastructure and treated accordingly."

The exemptions will also allow licensed operators to install, without planning, underground telephone mains and cables, telephone kiosks and a range of other telecommunications equipment.

Meanwhile, the Minister has decided that members of the public and politicians will have to pay €20 from January 1st every time they write to a local authority planning office. Fine Gael's Ms Olivia Mitchell described the measure as an outrage.