RESIDENTS are furious that a telecommunications mast has been installed near to their homes in New Marske.

The planning application for the mast on the corner of Birkdale Road and Kilbridge Close was given the automatic green light after Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council failed to respond to the proposal in time, according to local campaigners.

An administrative error in the council’s planning department resulted in the mast being erected despite strong opposition from residents.

Bob Moodie, the chairman of the New Marske Resident Association, has called on the local authority to order the mast be pulled down and removed from the residential area.

He said: “To say it’s an eyesore and substantial blight in a nice residential area, would be to describe and understate just how awful it is and looks and the various white cabinets fall in to the same category. It all looks completely out of place and needs taking down and moving pretty damned quick.

“I gather that it is common for other communication mast operators to follow suit and erect similar masts close by existing masts, so this could result in a triple blight now being in the pipeline, thanks to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s incompetence.

“It is possible to move anything these days, anywhere you want, you just need the will and the money to do it, so Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council need to go down this route immediately and remedy their big mistake.”

Councillor Mike Findley MBE has given his full support to the residents’ complaints.

He said: “On behalf of my colleagues and the local community of New Marske, I expect the Council to put this right, it can’t be palmed off as an unfortunate administrative error.”

Mark Ladyman, the council's assistant director for regeneration, apologised for the misunderstanding that led to the installation of the mast.

He said: “We are sorry that a dispute about the interpretation of regulations has led to the phone mast being erected against our wishes. The council is currently seeking legal advice in order to try and resolve the situation.

“To clarify, our planning officers have a fixed period of time to deal with planning applications and it is said that we took too long to make our decision.

“We took the starting point as being from when we received important requested documents and information from the applicants which we considered was needed to validate the application.

“The applicants took the starting point as being from when they made their initial submission, which we believed was incomplete.

“This is the nature of the issue we are trying to resolve.”