Mobile phone mast plan for Avoch sparks meeting in the Black Isle village
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A COMMUNITY meeting has been called in Avoch over plans to erect a 17.5 metre (57ft) mobile phone mast in the fishing village.
The site is located at parking bays on MacKay Terrace, not far off School Brae.
The proposal, which was put forward by the Harlequin Group on behalf of Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd, has stirred some unrest locally.
Nicola McLelland of Avoch and Killen Community Council (AKCC) posted online: “Given the feedback AKCC has received so far we have decided the best way forward is to organise a community meeting.
"A representative of the Harlequin Group has agreed to Skype into the meeting to answer questions the community might have.
“We have also managed to get an extension on the deadline for feedback to December 13.
“So whether you are for the mast, against it, or simply want more information please come along.”
The meeting is in Avoch Sports Pavillion at 7pm.
AKCC has a letter from Harlequin inviting the local authority to become involved in pre planning application discussions.
Cornerstone is a joint venture company owned by Telefónica UK and Vodafone that allows them to pool their basic network infrastructure, while running two independent nationwide networks.
This also allows them to “maximise opportunities to consolidate the number of base stations, and significantly reduce the environmental impact of network development.”
They say the proposed Avoch radio base station is needed at this location to improve the overall 3G and 4G coverage.
The letter states: “At present the the overall mobile broadband use in the area is poor and this proposals aims to rectify this. Without base stations, the mobile phones and other devices we rely on simply won’t work.”
