Work to start on radio masts

Claire at the site in 2007

 Back in 2007, planning permission was granted for the construction of a new radio transmitter station at Tubb's Bottom, off Frampton End Road. This was to replace the one at Emerson's Green, which is on land that was due to be developed. The permission was renewed in 2011 and with work on the new Emerson's Green development now underway, construction of the new radio station will start soon.

The original planning permission was obtained by National Grid Wireless, which has since been acquired by Arqiva. The company says the first stage will be to carry out some preliminary works, probably starting in August. Your Focus Team has asked for a pre-works meeting with the company and the surrounding Parish Councils.

Radio masts approved

The planning committee voted 8-4 to grant permission for the radio masts to be built at Tubb's Bottom.

Radio mast application goes to committee

The application to build two radio masts off Frampton End Road will be considered by the Development Control (West) committee on Thursday 21 August. The meeting starts at 2pm in Thornbury. Officers are recommending approval, you can read the report on the South Glos website.

Radio mast - site visit

The planning committee will visit the site of the proposed radio masts near Tubbs Bottom on Friday 9th May at around 10.10am. You can view the Agenda on the South Glos website.

Radio mast

The proposed phone mast on Badminton Road has not been the only mast causing concern in the area. There has been a great deal of concern about the effect of the proposed radio mast at Tubb's Bottom on the local landscape. Claire Young has asked that the matter go before the planning committee should the planning officer recommend approval.

Tubb's Bottom radio masts application

Back in September, Claire Young visited the site of proposed radio masts at Tubb's Bottom as part of a pre-application consultation. Things went very quiet for a while, but now the formal planning application has been submitted. You can view it and make comments online or view the plans at the Council's One Stop Shop in Yate and make comments in writing.

Radio mast update

Last Friday Claire Young met representatives of National Grid Wireless at both the existing site near the ring road and the proposed new site.

Although the proposed masts would be of a different design (a lattice rather than a solid tube with struts sticking out each side for climbing), it did make it easier to visualise the layout at ground level. Each mast would have a tuning shed at the base and there would be fences round these and round each of the points where the stays for the masts reach the ground. The rest of the field could continue to be used for grazing (there were cows at the existing site when Claire visited).

A larger separate building would be required for equipment (roughly the size of a typical block of public toilets). This needs to be secure but it should be possible to disguise it to make it look more like an agricultural building. It would probably be sited at the edge of the field beside Frampton End Road.

This Friday they confirmed that they are still working towards a formal planning application for the Tubb's Bottom site.

More information on radio masts

Tonight National Grid Wireless made a presentation at Westerleigh Parish Council regarding the proposed relocation of masts from Emerson's Green to Tubb's Bottom. I asked a number of questions and requested a follow-up site visit to the existing masts.

National Grid Wireless said that in their search for a site, they went through a "sieving process" and this was the only site considered worthy of detailed investigation. Construction would take approximately three months and they would enter into routing and working hours agreements with South Glos to minmise the effect of the work on residents. I queried the access to the site, as Frampton End Road is narrow and twisty, but was told that the masts came in sufficiently small sections that they could be carried on typical HGVs, no abnormal loads required. They would need to access the site every couple of months for maintenance but that would be an engineer in an estate car.

The installation would be well within health guidelines and the mast could not be shared with, for example, mobile operators as it is live. They were considering planting to mitigate the visual impact on the footpath that runs past the site.

Radio mast relocation

National Grid Wireless, who own and operate public broadcasting infrastructure, are proposing to erect two 50m radio masts with a building at the base, all in a fenced compound, at Tubb's Bottom near Iron Acton. These would replace two currently sited at Emerson's Green on land that is due to be developed.

The proposed site is on the border between Westerleigh and Frampton Cotterell Parishes. I asked National Grid Wireless to attend the Westerleigh Parish Council meeting at 7.15pm on Monday 3rd September to give a presentation on the proposals. Members of the public are as always welcome at the meeting. I also intend to make a site visit with their representatives.