The proposed phone mast on the corner of Park Avenue and Queen Anne’s Place has been refused by Enfield’s Panning Department, citing two main reasons: excessive height and insufficient arboricultural evidence;
- The proposed telecommunications monopole and associated equipment, due to its excessive height, scale, design and siting would result in a significantly prominent and incongruous feature that would result in demonstrable harm to the visual amenity and character and appearance of Bush Hill Park Conservation Area. The proposal fails to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the Bush Hill Park Conservation Area. The harm caused cannot be justified in terms of any public benefit that could potentially be delivered by the proposal. Furthermore, the proposal will not enhance or better reveal the significance of the heritage asset but act to diminish its significance. The proposal would therefore be contrary to the NPPF, NPPG, Policies CP30 and CP31 of the Core Strategy (2010), Policies DMD37 and DMD44 of the Development Management Document (2014), and the Bull Hill Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal (2015).
- Insufficient arboricultural evidence has been provided, in the form of BS 5837:2012 and current National Joint Utilities Group guidance, to demonstrate that there would be no undue harm caused to trees in the Conservation Area by the proposed development, which involves the mast, cabinets and subterranean cable ducting. The trees are prominent and offer high valuable amenity within the Bush Hill Park Conservation Area and the irrevocable damage to these trees caused by the development is unjustifiable and would not be acceptable. The proposal would therefore be contrary to the NPPF, NPPG, London Plan policies 7.8, 7.19 and 7.21, Core Strategy policy CP31, CP34 and DMD44 and DMD 80 of the Development Management Document (2014).
We expect the application to go to appeal, and similar cases elsewhere in the Borough have been granted at appeal stage…