Phone Mast Planning Application – Parish Council Message to the MHDC Portfolio Holder for Planning

Dear Councillor,

Planning Application M/25/00247/TC  Prior notification of proposed development by telecommunications for installation of 25m lattice tower at Hillcourt Farm, Welland.

Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council resolved, at its meeting on Monday 12th May, to bring to your attention its dissatisfaction with the process that led to the refusal of the application on 7th April 2025.

As you know, the Parish Council had previously expressed its request, including to yourself, that the application be determined at Committee rather than by delegated powers to reflect the considerable weight of public interest that was apparent before and during the consultation process, a request that was also conveyed by our local member. In the event those requests were denied with no coherent explanation and following the delegated decision the Parish Council wrote to the Head of Planning expressing its disappointment and concerns, principally with the delegation of the decision-making process. In his reply, Mr Macleod explained that for applications of this type “the local planning authority has 56 days in which to let the applicant know if its prior approval is required. There is no power to extend the 56 day period, if this deadline is not met the proposal is deemed approved, and therefore the Council simply has to ensure a decision is issued within the timeframes which meant a Committee decision was not something that could be accommodated in this instance.”

It seems from this that a Committee decision would have been acceptable but it could not be accommodated because the normal timing of validation, consultation and reporting did not fit with the established Committee timetable; a dilemma that was highlighted in its correspondence to MHDC by the Parish Council back in February.

In a democratic context, it is self-evident that a Committee decision, with its implied openness and transparency, would have been greatly preferable. It is therefore doubly disappointing to realise that MHDC cannot organise its planning application management to respond to explicit regulatory time constraints without denying a proper democratic process. That re-organisation might also include the possibility of convening special Planning Committee meetings or shortening consultation and reporting timeframes to address these tighter schedules.

It is understood that the applicant in this case may be submitting a revised planning application and we, the Parish Council, and the residents we represent are keen that democratic processes are seen to take some priority and that our voices are not, apparently, ignored. Perhaps this is an opportunity to review the scheme of delegation to ensure that it is responsive to applications of this type and to encourage councillors and officers to look for flexibility to meet the demands for improved infrastructure in rural areas that have just recently been loudly championed by the Council.

A copy of this formal Parish Council correspondence will be posted in due course on our Parish Council website and advertised via our social media channels. The Parish Council next meets on Monday 16th June. It would be good for that meeting to register a positive reaction to this real-world community concern. We await your early response.

Little Malvern and Welland Parish Council