More phone firms are challening councils over mobile masts

Gateshead Borough Council says it will have to pay tens of thousands of pounds after being sued and is now in a "no-win situation".

Public hostility to masts means almost all planning applications are opposed by residents - with most being refused.

The council says more phone firms are appealing against refusals and it must now decide how best to use public cash.

The authority says it is experiencing a "hardening of attitudes" by the mobile phone industry.

It highlights one applicant who has made a successful claim for legal costs against the authority, which means the council could now be facing a bill for tens of thousands of pounds.

Gateshead Council's chairman of planning and development, Joseph Hattam, said that in future, councillors would have to consider even more carefully what weight they give to public opinion.

He said: "The outcome of these appeals is most unwelcome.

Elected representatives

"We are in a 'No Win' situation."

"Telephone masts generate huge public hostility, but if we listen to public opinion and refuse planning permission, then we run the risk of the applicant appealing against our decision, winning their appeal and building their mast anyway.

"The system appears to be helping the mobile phone companies to ignore the views of both the public and their elected representatives, and it seems there's little we can do to stop them.

"This is not a happy state of affairs."

In July, an all-party parliamentary committee on mobile phones, called for the planning system governing the siting of mobile phone masts to be radically overhauled.

It said phone firms should be made to seek full planning permission for mobile phone masts and base stations.

Currently masts less than 15m high can be constructed without express permission.

The committee also said local councils were not doing enough to protect the public interest.