19th November 2007
A woman has spent the day in a muddy hole outside her house to prevent workmen building a mobile phone mast.
Ruth Taylor beat the workmen to the site in Charlton Road, Keynsham, just before 0800 GMT and stood in the way.
Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) refused planning permission for the mast, but failed to tell O2 in the regulated time.
The council has apologised and O2 has said it would meet with residents on Tuesday to discuss their concerns.
I’m not confident we’ll stop it altogether but delighted that we have stalled them
Ruth Taylor
Work had begun to prepare the site for the 13m (42.6 ft) mast but Ruth Taylor decided to take on the telecommunications firm.
“The workmen turned up at about five to eight so I threw on my wellies which I’ve had ready by the door, dashed out here and got here first,” she said.
When they saw Mrs Taylor the workmen went away.
B&NES had 56 days to tell O2 the firm had been refused planning approval but it took them 57 days.
Ongoing negotiations
In a statement the council said: “The council is aware of the concern that failure to notify O2 within the allotted time has caused to local residents and apologises for this.
“The council will as a matter of urgency continue to liaise with the operators and other parties to seek to resolve this situation.
“Negotiations about a possible re-siting of the mast to Riverside at some point in the future are ongoing.
“However the site is not owned by the council or O2, and any decision about this will need to be made by the site owner.”
“There are better places that the council should have looked at and O2 should be looking at and it just is not right,” said Mrs Taylor.
“I’m not confident we’ll stop it altogether but delighted that we have stalled them,” she said.
O2 said they must build the mast due to pressure from the government and the public to boost coverage.
Video of group of residents meeting O2 at site