NBS: MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL RELEASE THE (DOGS) ARCHEOLOGISTS

clohamon · 10-03-2010 12:03PM #1

Hutchison 3G Ireland have more problems than just the weather.

Last year Mayo County council chanced their arm by imposing a €5000 county development levy on an NBS planning application without any rationale or calculation. That, on top of the €5000 reinstatement bond, put extra planning costs at €10,000 per mast in Mayo. 3 appealed it to An Bord Pleanala, the council offered no explanation for the charge and it was struck out.

Unfortunately for 3 they had other applications in the pipeline at Mayo Co.Co. and the Council have responded to 3's impudence by again applying the €5000 charge but also insisting on an archeologist's report. (4 weeks notice, site excavation.., reports…. etc, etc - imagine the time and cost.)

3 must be regretting their appeal, they've only got six and a half months left to complete all the EDs.

Next week - Kerry

Sponge Bob · 10-03-2010 01:00PM

Jeez, I am sorry for the poor feckers. This is not 'proper' planning at all. The same council wafted through the eircom Tetra "Support Poles" ( 25m Masts) with no levies and no digs only a year back .

Which of the planners is married to an archeologist does anybody know ??

watty · 10-03-2010 07:17PM

OTOH, 3 should have applied and built these over 4 years ago. Really it's nothing to do with the NBS, but everything to do with making their *REAL* coverage compliant with their 3G licence.

See how many Masts & When "3" originally claimed to be building years before NBS.

In comparison to total cost, the €10,000 is I suppose slightly less than a 10% once off tax.

clohamon · 16-03-2010 09:09PM

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The same council wafted through the eircom Tetra "Support Poles" ( 25m Masts) with no levies and no digs only a year back .

Its an extraordinary oversight by Mayo. They forgot telecommunications masts when they were making out the schedule of county development levies.

Kerry on the other hand do have a category. They pulled in about €216,000 in extra cash from 9 NBS masts. Compared with about €45,000 for Mayo for the same number of sites.

The Kerry "1km rule" works very well for them. All mast applications are refused because inevitably there is a habitable premises within 1km of the proposed site.
But there is now a well established routine, where ABP overturn their refusal on appeal but give them leave to apply their amenity and roads levies along with a reinstatement bond. In all, €24,000 per mast.

Mayo must be kicking themselves. The archeology business looks like sheer spite.

trekkypj · 17-03-2010 02:00PM

I'd have thought since any fool knows telecommunications equipment is strategic infrastructure, that local authorities would be prevented from making these sort of charges.

Particularly since it's a government scheme.

watty · 17-03-2010 04:29PM

They are not NBS masts. 3 may have an NBS contract. But these are 3G Mobile masts under 3's 3G Mobile licence. They needed to do them even if NBS didn't exist.

The NBS in this context is a red herring.

The masts do not belong to the Dept or the NBS scheme and will make most of their money from phone calls.

clohamon · 17-03-2010 11:32PM

watty wrote: »

They are not NBS masts. 3 may have an NBS contract. But these are 3G Mobile masts under 3's 3G Mobile licence. They needed to do them even if NBS didn't exist.

Was there a deadline when the license was issued ? Did Comreg just forget about them ?

watty · 18-03-2010 12:06AM

It's all on Comreg's site. By a certain date (some years ago) 3 was to have a certain coverage, specifed in various ways. The emphasis on Voice and some 3G data performance limits (no HSPA specs) Thus they are not obligated to provide more than 350k outdoor in main area, and lower speed indoor.

One issue is that Comreg has mostly accepted the Operator's coverage maps.. 3 manages to have better maps than Vodafone with less masts. Good trick.

I can't claim that 3 was actually in breach of licence for 2 to 3 years or more. That's up to Comreg.

See http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0416.pdf
from the middle of this page...
http://www.comreg.ie/radio_spectrum/search.541.874.10003.0.rslicensing.html

Various comments here
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/nbs-areas/
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/threes-fantasy-repeater/
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/advert-for-3-ireland-mobile/
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/nbs-3-and-asai/
http://www.wattystuff.net/issues/mobile-and-nbs/issues/mobile-and-nbs/is-mobile-in-ireland-destroying-infrastructure/
See also
http://www.techtir.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=1832 (free registration needed to view images)

NBS: MAYO COUNTY COUNCIL RELEASE THE (DOGS) ARCHEOLOGISTS

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