Partry decision welcomed

Decision to refuse Partry mast welcomed

Neill O’Neill

A decision by Mayo County Council to refuse planning permission for a 30-metre telecommunications mast in the south Mayo village of Partry has been welcomed by the Partry Anti-Mast Action Group.
Elevation Towers Limited, a Galway-based company, had applied to Mayo County Council for permission to erect the mast at Carrowmoney, but in a decision reached last week the Council – having sought further information on the plan and having received 24 separate objections – decided to refuse the proposal.
The reason the company outlined for wanting to install the mast was to improve mobile phone and broadband signals in the area, but the residents felt it would have a detrimental effect on the aesthetic value and natural environment of their village, and on their own personal health and safety.
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday), Vincent Hennelly, PRO of the anti-mast lobby group, said that this was the decision the people of Partry wanted and that if the Council’s decision is appealed to An Bord Pleanála the group would raise the same points in objection to the project.
“We fully expect this decision to be appealed but we are prepared to object once again,” he said.
“There is no need for this mast to be erected in Partry. Apart from health concerns, the village is a small strip of land between Lough Mask and Lough Carra and claims that there is industry there that would benefit from this mast are not warranted. It is a small community with a small population and this development simply cannot be justified.
“It would damage the appearance and the uniqueness of Partry, which we believe is one of the only areas of inhabited land in Ireland that is wedged between two lakes.
“The vast majority of the community are behind us in this objection.”