It won't happen again, vows planning chief

Sep 14 2007

IN A statement, Solihull Council said: "After carrying out an investigation we have found that the T-Mobile phone mast is lawful despite planning sub-committee's refusal of its application.

"This is because the type of mast it proposed required us to make a decision within 56 days.

"However, our decision was not sent to T-Mobile in time so they can claim approval by default.

"The reason why the decision did not reach them in time was because we did not consider its original application as valid.

"This is because it did not meet with a code of best practice drawn up between the Government and mobile phone companies.

"T-Mobile then re-submitted its plans to meet the code and it was from this point that we started the formal process to determine the application.

"However, our investigation has shown that legislation does not allow for applications to be considered invalid if they do not meet the code and we should have started the formal process after receiving the original application."

Coun Stuart Davis, chairman of the planning sub committee, apologised for the error.

"We're taking measures to ensure this never happens again," he said.

"We are not happy with current legislation that allows for approval by default, as in this situation.

"We will be raising our concerns with the Local Government Association and ultimately the Secretary of State to try and close this loophole."