Locals celebrate Leavesden High Road 5G tower rejection

The plan for a mast on the corner of High Road and Hare Crescent in Leavesden was submitted on April 6, but by May 12 113 objection letters and a petition had been sent.

Watford Borough Council rejected the plan today (May 16) after the planning officer’s report concluded “the proposed siting within a prominent area of open space at the junction of two residential roads, together with the scale and appearance of the mast and associated cabinets, is considered to cause significant harm to the character and appearance of the locality”.

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If approved, the mast would have stood 15m high on an area of grass between the road and the pavement.

Locals who campaigned to stop the plan were apparently overjoyed at the news, with messages flying across residents' WhatsApp groups this morning.

“Everyone is really pleased,” one resident told the Watford Observer.

“We feel it was the right decision. It would have been out of character for the road.”

He added: “This is a residential area, and we don’t really understand what the benefits were to bring it to this area.”

Having campaigned against the plan, he characterised it as an “eyesore” and was not alone, as fellow objectors called it “awful”, “unacceptable” and “detrimental”.

Telecommunications provider Three said it had considered six other locations but believed it had chosen the most suitable one to meet demand.

“The planning authority will decide whether we have,” a spokesperson added, ahead of the decision.

After engagement with the council, it said it had looked at an alternative location that was suggested but found that it “did not work from a network coverage point of view”.

Commenting on the refusal, a Three spokesperson said: “After extensive searches, our planners determined that this site was required to deliver a great network experience for the residents and businesses of Woodside in Watford.

"We are considering the council’s reasons for refusal and assessing our next steps.”