Planning application for telecommunications mast in Lisnagelvin area rejected

Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Planning Committee have voted to reject the erection of a high street pole telecommunications mast. 

It had been recommended that the council reject the planning application, and they agreed, voting unanimously to pass the recommendation.

The 20 metre telecommunication mast would have been built west of the junction of the Crescent Link and Lisnagelvin Road on the pedestrian and cycle path between Altnagelvin roundabout and the Lisnagelvin District Centre on the northern side of the dual carriageway.

Supporting information outlined the need for this new mast to enhance telecommunications coverage in the Waterside and Crescent Link areas of Derry.

Department of Infrastructure (DFI) Roads, in principle, had no objection to the erection of the telecommunications mast.

However, it was recommended that the application be rejected as the proposal would prejudice public safety, as it would have been partially built on a pathway and cycleway. 

The site selected was not considered to be acceptable from a public safety perspective and would adversely affect road safety.

Before the motion was passed unanimously, Sinn Fein Councillor Christopher Jackson supported the decision but expressed his disappointment regarding the application.

Cllr Jackson said: “To start with, I have no reason to disagree with the recommendation. Our Council are going to great lengths, putting quite a lot of effort in to expand and develop a green infrastructure, and it wouldn’t make sense for the planning committee to do something that is taking away from that, but we are encouraging people to make a modal shift into more sustainable modes of transport, and a big part of that is encouraging people to walk and use their greenways and cycle lanes. 

“So I would be supportive of the recommendation.to protect our green infrastructure, but I am disappointed that the application wasn’t withdrawn and sited somewhere else.”