Phone masts may still be built near schools, warns Minister

Wed, 21 Mar 2012

Infrastructure Minister David Cretney MHK

The Infrastructure Minister says he can't guarantee mobile phone masts won't be built within a mile of schools and nurseries on the Island.

Manx Telecom recently scrapped plans to build a mast on West Drive in Onchan after some MHKs raised concerns that the mast would be close to the new school at Bemahague.

David Cretney says it won't be practical to ban mast developments within a mile of all schools, but that he is helping the telecoms provider find an alternative site.

Under permitted development laws, it wasn't necessary for planning permission to be sought for the mast, but Mr Cretney says mobile phone masts will be subject to normal planning procedures in the future.

However, the Infrastructure Minister says the original site did comply with current guidelines [play clip]