Imagine having a 15-metre-high 5G telephone mast just a few steps from the backdoor. That is the prospect facing High Barnet resident Alison Gaymer whose home backs on to a small strip of land at the junction of Wellside Close and Wellhouse Lane.
She fears that a telephone mast only ten metres from her home would be a health hazard and she has added her name to a list of objectors.
Three UK, which is in a proposed merger with Vodafone UK, has applied for planning permission to erect the 15-metre-high monopole and two cabinets as part of the roll out of a 5G standalone network.
So far 26 objections have been registered on Barnet Council’s planning website which says the application is awaiting a decision.
Last year the council refused permission for the installation of a 20-metre-high 5G telephone mast higher up Wellhouse Lane, next to the junction with Wood Street and closer to Barnet Hospital.
In their objections, six residents of Wellside Close say that installing a mast on the small strip of land at the corner with Wellhouse Lane is far too close to their homes and is a health risk.
In support of their application, Three UK say the mast would be of the most streamline design; any impact on nearby houses would be minimised; and it would “seamlessly blend with its contextual surroundings”.
A background of mature trees would ensure that views of the mast would be “very limited”, and it would only be seen from a very close proximity. It would “fit in” with the existing street lighting columns and would not have a profound impact on the visual amenity of the area.
Rollout of a nationwide standalone 5G network is backed by the government which hopes there will be coverage in all populated areas by 2030.
Three UK says the Wellside Close installation is the most appropriate site in the immediate locality and the adjoining Barnet Hospital would benefit from a high-speed communication infra structure.
Ms Gaymer – seen here with her dog Misty – told the Barnet Society she had been shocked to discover that the mast was to be installed immediately outside her back door.
“I am frightened about it being so close. It’s inhuman. My mother, who is 91, likes to sit in the garden and the mast will be only metres away. We just don’t know what the health risks are.
“If the company says the mast will benefit Barnet Hospital, why don’t they install it in the grounds of the hospital. There is plenty of land within the hospital grounds and lots of possible sites without it being so close to where people live.”
Ms Gaymer said she was born in the family house in Wellside Close and had returned 12 years ago to look after her parents.
Wellside Close was developed by Barnet Council in the 1960s and the original the strip of land where the mast would go was her father’s vegetable plot until the council took it back and grassed it over.
In its decision last year to refuse a 20-metre-high mast in Wellhouse Lane, close to the roundabout at the junction with Wood Street, Barnet Council said it was rejected because it would be higher than the surrounding trees; dominate the skyline; and damage the Wood Street Conservation Area.
