HC Deb 28 January 2002 vol 379 cc58-9W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many letters his Department has received from residents of the Buckingham constituency(a) in favour and (b) opposed to the erection of mobile phone masts in the last year. [30041]

Ms Keeble

The Department has received centrally five letters from members of the public in Buckinghamshire about the erection of mobile phone masts. All of these letters were either opposed to the erection of an individual mobile phone mast and/or requested clarification of our telecommunications planning policy.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many mobile phone masts there were in Buckingham constituency in each of the last five years. [30046]

Ms Keeble

The Department does not hold information about the number or locations of existing mobile phone masts.

However, the Radiocommunications Agency has made information available to the public via their website (www.radio.gov.uk). The database, called Sitefinder, gives details about all operational mobile phone base stations and their emissions. Sitefinder employs a "user-friendly" map-based facility indicating the location of cellular phone base stations. More information on a particular base station is available by simply clicking on the position indicator for the base station in question.

Mr. Drew

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what powers he has to ensure that mobile telecommunication companies share masts. [31120]

Ms Keeble

The Government's policy is firmly to encourage mast and site sharing where that is the optimum environmental solution in a particular case. Indeed, conditions attached to individual operating licences by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry include a requirement to investigate mast sharing before seeking to put up any new mast.

Planning Policy Guidance Note 8, "Telecommunications", makes clear our expectation that developers should provide the local planning authority with clear evidence that they have considered the use of existing masts, buildings and other structures before seeking to erect any new mast, regardless of size. The authority may be justified in refusing prior approval or planning permissions if it considers the evidence regarding the consideration of alternative sites is not satisfactory.