Mobile UK calls for planning reform in study on attitudes to connectivity

A study by Mobile UK has found the British public may be somewhat divided on building new mobile infrastructure in their vicinity, but that respondents are also often unclear on what this infrastructure looks like. The trade association for UK mobile operators has used the opportunity to once again call on the government to reform the planning regime.

Mobile UK has argued the data "undermines the current planning system's favouring of public perceptions over the broader economic and social benefits of mobile infrastructure."

A majority (83%) of the roughly 1,000 people surveyed by Mobile UK grasped the concept that mobile signal is stronger if they are closer to the infrastructure that broadcasts it, with 84% saying it's important to live within its range. Nevertheless, only about a third of respondents said they would welcome having a mast at the end of their road, with a further 15% saying they would not mind.

The study suggested increasing awareness could help bolster support for new infrastructure. Many respondents mistook other types of equipment, including radio towers and television transmitters, for mobile infrastructure. Mobile UK said a majority of respondents could not identify a rooftop installation (75%) or a monopole (79%) in a real-world setting.

Planning problems

At the same time, the trade body also renewed its calls for a reform of the planning process governing mobile network infrastructure. This echoes a report it published in July together with the Mobile Infrastructure Forum (MIF), which identified a lack of funds and workforce as the main obstacles, alongside uncertainty and delays around planning decisions.

Because planning applications need to be submitted to the relevant local authority, Mobile UK says outcomes are unpredictable and vary broadly. In Northern Ireland, Mobile UK and the MIF said, "almost one- fifth of the most significant applications take more than three years to process," based on the experiences of one MIF participant. 

While planning decision appeals tend to be successful, the median time it takes to reach a decision is 30 weeks.

To overcome these issues, Mobile UK and MIF made several recommendations, including increasing funding, raising local authorities' understanding of mobile infrastructure, planning fast-tracking, and removing "relatively minor applications" from the system.

The calls come at a time when the recently elected Labour government has set its sights on a broader planning reform for housing and infrastructure, although mobile networks do not appear to be a priority.

Meanwhile, the government seems to be looking more closely at exactly the opposite problem in the realm of fixed infrastructure. The minister for data protection and telecomms, Chris Bryant, last week said unnecessary deployment of poles for broadband rollouts, where a special planning permission isn't required, needs to be looked into more closely.