Appealing AGAINST Appeals
This year has seen an increasing number of appeals from phone companies against
Birmingham City Council's decisions not to grant them planning permission for
their telecommunications' installations. Unfortunately, the planning regulations
give the phone companies the RIGHT to appeal against rejected planning applications.
However, third parties (US) do not have the right to appeal if we are not happy
about the City Council's decisions to approve phone mast applications. Sounds
fair, doesn't it?
Shone companies can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate based in Bristol. An
independent inspector will then review the case, i.e. the written evidence put
forward by the phone company and everybody else who commented on the original
planning application (US). So we can have our say about a particular planning
application. This is what you should do to have your say:
1. Ring the Council, to find out:
(a) if their statement (the Council's) and the appellant's statement is available
for viewing. If it is, go and view it! Often, it's not, as the phone companies
cleverly and deliberately leave their statements to the last minute!
(b) if NOT, ask the Council why they REFUSED the application in the first place.
For once, we are in this together and it's very important to know why the Council
refused the application. Take notes for a letter to the planning inspectorate.
2. Send a letter by the specified deadline and use the information given by the
Council for its refusal.
STATE that you wish to be informed of the final decision, otherwise you might
never learn about the decisions that have been taken.
3. Send 3 copies of the letter to the planning inspectorate at:
The Planning
Inspectorate,
Temple Quay House,
2 The Square,
Temple Quay,
BRISTOL
BS1 6PN
Good luck and drop me a line if you need further info or want to tell us about
your particular case. All the information about how to campaign against phone
masts is also available on the B'ham FOE website: http://beep.dial.pipex.com
Kirsten Sontgens