PLANS for two new mobile phone masts at High Helsfell Farm, Kendal, look set to be rejected by Lake District National Park Authority planners next week.

Mobile phone company T Mobile wants to put up a 12-metre column in the style of a telegraph pole, to give coverage along the A591 bypass. Friends of the Lake District are concerned at the exposed position in open countryside. National park planning officers are recommending refusal, saying the mast would seriously harm walkers' enjoyment of the landscape.

Orange PCS Ltd wants to site a 20-metre pole at the farm to give cover along the bypass, and to Crook. Planning officers say in their report the mast would intrude on the landscape, because of its raised position above the Kendal bypass, and its closeness to Grade ll-listed High Helsfell Farm. They recommend refusal and suggest Orange should share an existing mast at Scar Quarry.

Meanwhile, plans by Vodafone Ltd for a six-metre lattice mast next to Kirkstone Quarry, Kirkstone Pass, are also recommended for refusal. Officers say the mast on the open fell would harm the landscape.

The development control committee meets on Monday.

January 3, 2003 10:00