Tobias Tobias Ellwood will be asking for a new clause to be added to the Telecommunications Masts (Planning Control) Private Members Bill, to be debated this Friday, 3rd March.

The Bill proposes that all planning applications for new masts would:

1. Be subject to the full planning process
Removing 'permitted development' of 'stand alone' masts of less than 15 metres or roof masts of less than 4 metres.

2. Include details of intensity and range of the antenna
Including setting out the area and range of the beam of greatest intensity.

The Bill also gives schools, hospitals and residential homes the power to have masts removed from their premises.

Tobias Ellwood is a supporter of the Bill but is seeking a new clause which would call for the Government to establish a single national mobile phone mast network (there are presently five).

This would initially involve a feasibility study which would determine the technicalities of establishing a single mobile phone mast network. The findings of the report would be reported to Parliament after a set period (likely to be around six months). The outcome of this report would be debated in Parliament with a view to passing legislation obliging mobile phone operators to share one mast network and cut the number of mobile phone masts in England and Wales by around three quarters.

Notes:
1. Following the invention of the telegraph, many systems competed against each other but were eventually combined into one network used by all land lines today. The introduction of a single mobile phone mast network would function in a similar way.

2. There are presently about 45,000 mobile phone base stations in the UK operated by five mobile phone companies. Research suggests that this may increase to as many as 100,000.