By John Baron
Mobile phone antennas aimed at improving mobile coverage in Pudsey will be installed at Grade II Listed Pudsey Parish Church after council planners gave the green light.
Plans were submitted by UK mobile infrastructure services company Cornerstone for the replacement and upgrade of four antennas and the installation of four new antennas in the church tower, off Church Lane.
A planning statement accompanying the application states: “The applicant has sought to cause as little impact as possible to fabric and architectural qualities of the listed building in addition to the character and setting of the surrounding conservation area.
“Church towers provide suitable spaces for housing telecommunications apparatus as they provide an ideal height over surrounding built forms. Unfortunately in this particular case the tower does not lend itself to having the antennas positioned internally within the tower.”
A council planning officer’s report approving the proposals said they lead to ‘less than substantial’ harm to the significance of a designated heritage asset, and the works were of high public benefit.
It stated: “The proposed equipment is to be located both on the external façade of the building and internally within the bell tower, and in both instances, replacing existing telecommunications equipment.
“In terms of the external works, the antennas and GPS element is of a minimal size, and sited within an elevated position, replacing that existing. The internal works are not viewable from the streetscape and these sit within the belltower, within an area where this type of development is established.”
There were no objections to the planning applications.
The plans can be viewed in full here.
The church was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 30 August 1824.
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