Shared Rural Network: Phone mast proposals significantly reduced after UK Government rethink

Mountaineering Scotland is pleased to report a major success in the campaign to protect Scotland’s mountains from inappropriate development, as the Shared Rural Network (SRN) announces a significant review and reduction in the planned infrastructure rollout. This change follows several years of campaigning by Mountaineering Scotland, the John Muir Trust and many other partners, local communities, community councils and individuals over the environmental impact of the original plans.

The SRN, a joint initiative between the UK Government and mobile network operators, was designed to improve rural 4G coverage by constructing hundreds of new telecom masts across the UK. However, many of the proposed sites were located in some of the UK’s most fragile and remote landscapes, including mountain summits, Wild Land Areas, National Scenic Areas, and sites near protected nature designations.

Mountaineering Scotland has closely monitored the planning proposals for 4G masts near to recreational routes to summits and in wild places, tracking and objecting to those which have the most impact on mountaineering interests, and published an online map to show the locations of those in the planning system.

This week, the UK Government has announced that the Total Not Spot (TNS) part of the SRN programme has been reviewed and substantially reduced from with only 44 masts proposed, down from the original estimate of 258 masts. You can read a full update on the SRN website here.

Mountaineering Scotland Director for Landscape & Planning Andrew Tait said:

“We are delighted to hear the news that the UK Government has listened to the concerns raised and reviewed the need for public money to be spent on masts that would have no benefit for rural communities in Scotland.

“I’d especially like to thank Davie Black, our former Access & Conservation Officer, who recently retired, and put a huge amount of work into this campaign along with a team of volunteers who helped to monitor mast planning proposals over the last year. This is a huge success for Scotland’s mountains and wild areas which are under ever increasing pressure from human development and activity.”

Mountaineering Scotland will continue to monitor the remaining planning proposals to ensure that they meet the needs of local communities, whilst protecting the mountain environment.