AN OUTRAGED council has called for the Royal Borough to allow councillors to decide on 5G masts following a previous planning blunder.

Datchet Parish Council passed a motion that requested for all 5G mast planning applications to be automatically referred to the relevant Windsor and Maidenhead development management panel for determination rather than being rubber-stamped by officers.

This follows the Royal Borough’s failure to determine a prior approval 5G mast application, which effectively bypasses the planning process and speeds up development, at the junction of Link Road and Horton Road in Datchet within the 56-day timeframe.

This error meant telecommunications company CK Hutchinson was allowed to erect the mast and associated cabinets. It was granted a highway permit in October.

The parish council didn’t object to the plans but requested Hutchinson to put it on the other side of the road, away from the residential area.

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Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Ewan Larcombe said the “incompetent” Hutchinson and the council have “no common sense”.

He said: “[The council] is already saying they don’t have enough time to be able to determine these 5G applications and be determined by the [planning] committee.

“I think that is rubbish. I think as soon as a 5G application comes in, it should go straight on the agenda at the very next meeting of the planning committee.

“It won’t take very long to determine because some of them are so obvious. It’s obviously right or it’s obviously wrong, and there are very few stuck in the middle. Ours is obviously wrong.

“I asked the borough to put a stop notice on [the 5G mast in Datchet]. They didn’t and they didn’t even apologise for what they’ve done.”

A council spokesperson said: “The proposer of the motion has received an explanation from the council and officers have set out how they are looking at ways of working to prevent this from happening again in the future.

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“The combination of a necessary consultation period on these applications during which officers cannot finalise a recommendation, coupled with planning committees only sitting once a month and the time needed for the preparation of committee reports, means that referring these applications to committee significantly increases the risk that they would not be determined in the necessary timeframe.”

According to Datchet Cllr Ian Thompson, Hutchinson dug ‘too deep’ and the work has reportedly impacted a resident’s property, undermining his garage and wall, and chopping off the roots of his bush.

A Three spokesperson said it has filled in the hole it initially dug and no mast roots were installed. They also said the wall in question was not moved or damaged by their engineers.

They added: “5G rollout is vital for residents and businesses of Datchet. We want to offer the community a reliable network experience and this site will be critical to making that happen.

“While we try to keep mast sites as unobtrusive as possible, they do need to be situated near to where people will be using the service and, in many cases, in precise locations to ensure the widest breadth of coverage.

“We did not receive objections from the parish council before commencing building on this site. After objections from parish members, our engineers refilled the hole they had dug and left the site without damage being caused to the resident’s wall. We are happy to discuss the site with the council, and will work with them to find a way forwards.”