An application to site a 51-metre telecommunications mast in the middle of an area of outstanding natural beauty has been refused by planners.

Britannia Towers Ltd, on behalf of Wholesailor, applied to build a 51-metre-high telecommunications tower supporting nine transmission dishes and six mobile coverage antennas on privately owned land at Pantmaenog Woodlands, Rosebush.

The development, planned for 384 metres above sea level, would also have comprised of equipment cabinets at ground level.

The developers stated that it would primarily have been used to link two data centres in London and Ireland, mostly related to financial trading.

However, it also would have boasted mobile phone antennas which they said would give the area a clearer signal.

Locals objected to the proposal.

Maenclochog Community Council said it ‘would be a blot on the landscape’ and that a project of this size should have had wider public consultation.

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Outrage over plans for 51m mast in Pembrokeshire national park

The council also raised concerns as to its potential negative impact on nature surrounding the site, including polecats living in Pantmaenog woods.

Concerned locals also raised objections about the mast’s visual impact, the health impact of such a powerful transmitter sited near to people’s houses, the precedent it could set, the effect on tourism and the fact that there was already mobile coverage in the area.

Yesterday the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority said it had refused the application as it was contrary to several local and national policies and saying the mast ‘would have an unacceptably adverse impact on the visual amenities and landscape character of the national park’.

Campaigners said that they were ‘absolutely delighted’ that the national park authority had taken ‘a firm and swift stance' on the application.

Peter Ainsworth, who previously said that approving the mast would be ‘a grotesque act of self-harm’, said: 

"It is a massive relief that the parks have seen sense and rejected this harmful application out of hand.”

He added that there was a lot of concern in the community that too few of the affected people were notified about this application and given a chance to object and a fear that the park would not pay attention to the community view.

“The parks might want to consider how they can ensure wider community involvement in any future application that affects more than just the immediate neighbours,” he said.

“A large advertisement in a regional newspaper, paid for by the applicant, would be a suitable measure."