CONCERNS that the wrong sort of new phone masts were depriving rural residents of the chance of better phone connectivity are being addressed.

Arkengarthdale Parish Council and Upper Dales councillor John Blackie were among those concerned that an application for a new mast under a Government-backed scheme would not accommodate commercial providers other than EE.

The mast, planned for Seal Houses, is part of a scheme to improve communications for the emergency services, but the monopole-type applied for would not have enabled all commercial providers to use it due to its size.

The parish council wrote to Richmondshire MP Rishi Sunak who took the matter up with the Home Office and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).

This led to confirmation from the Home Office this week that it would be making a fresh application to the YDNPA planning authority for a type of mast capable of carrying other commercial operators’ equipment.

The Home Office said it had been notified by the YDNPA that a fresh application for a fully shareable lattice tower-type structure at Seal Houses would be considered favourably.

When approving the original planning application for the Seal Houses mast, the YDNPA had favoured a monopole structure for visual reasons.

Mr Sunak said: “I am very pleased that the Home Office and the national park have come to an understanding about the importance of these masts being capable of extending mobile phone and broadband coverage in areas where existing phone and 4G coverage is patchy at best and non-existent in many instances.

“In correspondence I had with the Minister last year, it was made clear to me that the company building the masts – EE - would be offering a commercial service given that the Government was meeting the cost of building the structures in the most remote rural areas like the Dales.”

Mr Sunak said it was “very important” that the possibility of better connection was not lost by erecting masts that only met the needs of the emergency services and EE.

He added that he would write to the YDNPA asking it to fully take into account the Home Office Minister’s guidance on mast shareability when considering any future mast applications.

In the past six months, the Home Office has applied to build five telecommunications masts the National Park, as part of a new ‘Emergency Services Network’ (ESN). 

It has contracted EE to build the masts and three out of the five applications have been approved, with two yet to be decided.

Over roughly the same period, EE has applied directly to upgrade or build five further masts in the Park, under a separate strand of the ESN programme.

The ESN is expected to greatly improve the communications capability of the police, fire and ambulance services. 

In addition to carrying the ESN equipment (the main function of the masts), all of the masts will be capable of carrying an EE antenna to bring coverage for its mobile phone customers in areas which are currently ‘not spots’. 

YDNPA Head of Development Management, Richard Graham, said:  “The Authority’s policies recognise the masts as ‘essential infrastructure’. 

"It has been our job to work with the Home Office and EE to make sure the masts are designed and sited in such a way as to bring about maximum benefit while minimising their visual impact where we can.

“Much of the public debate is about whether the masts should be lattice towers or monopoles. 

"Towers have a clear advantage, in that they are big enough to be shared by other commercial operators. 

"But two linked considerations count against them.

"First, all the evidence suggests it is highly unlikely that other telecoms companies are going to want to step in to use these masts– because it just isn’t commercially viable for them to do so. 

"Second, lattice towers have a greater impact on the landscape than monopoles. 

“The key point is that all the masts will be capable of doing the job for the emergency services and carrying a commercial service for EE customers – if EE choose to make that investment.”