Offices: Livingston (Scotland), N. Ireland, Birmingham, Chatham (Kent) Directors: David Summers BSc (Hons) MRICS, Russell Frith BSc (Hons), Bruce Moir Harlequin Group Ltd registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 2836322 Registered Office: Innovation Centre, Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9FD Harlequin Group Ltd Rutland House 5 Allen Road Livingston West Lothian EH54 6TQ T:+44(0)1506 462174 www.harlequin-group.com
Sledmere & Croome Parish Council
Jennifer Douglas
61 Woldholme Avenue
DRIFFIELD
YO25 6RW
By Email: piperdo.0007@gmail.com
Ref: YO359_306737
Date: 9th January 2020
Dear Ms Douglas
Proposed communications installation for Arqiva Ltd at Croome House Farm, Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, YO25 3XT
The Harlequin Group act as agents for Arqiva.
This letter is to draw your attention to a planning application to be submitted by Arqiva to East Riding of Yorkshire Council to install Smart Metering Network Equipment at Croome House Farm, Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, YO25 3XT and to provide contact details should you wish to enquire about it.
Arqiva owns, hosts and operates shared radio telecommunications infrastructure. It owns and operates the UK’s TV and radio broadcasting transmitter network and it hosts a large number of other radio communications services on its sites.
Smart metering is a Government programme to roll out, between 2014 and 2020, smart electricity and gas meters to homes and small businesses across Great Britain. The smart meter initiative is a key part of the Government’s programme to cut greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonise the economy and support the creation of new green jobs and technologies.
The Department of Energy & Climate Change has awarded the contract to deliver the radio communications network for Smart Metering to Arqiva and Telefónica. Arqiva will deploy and manage the radio communications
network in Scotland and northern England whilst Telefónica will provide
the network to the remainder of Great Britain.
This new national Smart Metering Network (SMN) is a key project in the UK’s National Infrastructure Plan and will form part of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure. Its deployment Offices: Livingston (Scotland), N. Ireland, Birmingham, Chatham (Kent) Directors: David Summers BSc (Hons) MRICS, Russell Frith BSc (Hons), Bruce Moir Harlequin Group Ltd registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 2836322 Registered Office: Innovation Centre, Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9FD Harlequin Group Ltd Rutland House 5 Allen Road Livingston West Lothian EH54 6TQ T:+44(0)1506 462174 www.harlequin-group.com
and timely delivery is particularly important to achieving a sustainable economy and meeting key Government priorities enshrined in the Climate Change Act 2008 and thereby support the transformation to a low carbon economy. In England, Smart Metering will also help deliver the aspirations set out in Section 10 of the National Planning Policy Framework
The SMN, like all electronic communications networks, is to be supported by an infrastructure of operational sites with the required antennas and other apparatus needed to provide radio coverage to the local area. In that sense, they have similarities with cellular networks, with the Smart Meters, being the devices that must connect and communicate with the network antennas, rather than mobile devices.
The SMN, like all electronic communications networks, is to be supported by an infrastructure of operational sites with the required antennas and other apparatus needed to provide radio coverage to the local area. In that sense, they have similarities with cellular networks, with the Smart Meters, being the devices that must connect and communicate with the network antennas, rather than mobile devices.
The SMN sites must therefore be located in proximity to the premises that will be served and must be able to communicate with meters that are often located within the heart of a property, for example, in an under stairs cupboard.
Consistent with planning policy, the main sites that form the SMN have been largely planned around sharing or using existing communication sites, buildings and structures and where this has not been possible, new ground-based masts. These main installations provide the main umbrella of coverage to larger geographical areas and premises within those areas.
However, there are still smaller settlements, peripheral areas and more remote locations that cannot be covered by these sites due to coverage constraints, often related to distance, topography or other environmental related factors. Hence, in order to provide more localised coverage to these areas, a secondary layer of smaller sites, known as micro sites, are required and these are generally physically smaller. The application is in relation to a site required for this secondary layer.
As these micro sites are required to provide localised indoor coverage
over very specific areas then the siting parameters for coverage reasons
are narrow. The sites must also satisfy a range of operational criteria, such as good fibre connectivity, an existing power supply suitably high and resilient for an electronic communications network, a reasonable level of security, Offices: Livingston (Scotland), N. Ireland, Birmingham, Chatham (Kent) Directors: David Summers BSc (Hons) MRICS, Russell Frith BSc (Hons), Bruce Moir Harlequin Group Ltd registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 2836322 Registered Office: Innovation Centre, Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9FD Harlequin Group Ltd Rutland House 5 Allen Road Livingston West Lothian EH54 6TQ T:+44(0)1506 462174 www.harlequin-group.com
vehicular or pedestrian access for ongoing maintenance and security of tenure for the life of the SMN contract with DECC. In addition, the site must be capable of being constructed without undue constraints and avoiding undue environmental disturbance, that for example, might be associated with creating new access tracks and supplying new power runs above or below ground.
In assessing these various requirements and looking to find an appropriate balance between operational and environmental factors, a sequential approach to site selection has been adopted. Site sharing, utilisation of existing buildings and structures have been explored to best meet the operational need whilst minimising environmental impact.
The proposal entails the installation of a 12 metre high smart metering radio mast, 1No. smart Metering Omni antenna, 1No. Smart Metering GPS and 3G antennas, along with ancillary equipment incorporating a smart metering enclosure and power pillar, both to be fixed on a concrete base, all of which will be well located and sufficiently close to the premises that the SMN will serve.
The proposed site is located to the North of the conservation village of Sledmere within East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s jurisdiction. The proposed site is located to the rear of a new barn building which will provide the pole and ground-based equipment with a degree of screening from views to the South. The site is located in close proximity to a Scheduled Monument within the farmyard to the west of Croome House Farm. On approach from the South along Croome Road the site is provided with context from the existing vertical infrastructure in place (BT telegraph poles and power poles) The site has been strategically positioned away from the village of Sledmere in order to minimise the visual impact on the area. The height of the mast, the numbers of antennas and their size, is the minimum amount of development required to provide coverage for the smart meter network. Furthermore, Arqiva is looking to install an innovatively designed radio mast, 12 metres high to the base of the antenna, that has been selected as it is the slimmest design available. The upper element of the proposal is a tapered monopole with a thin (58mm wide) Omni antenna, which is similar to that of a standard streetlight column to put this into context. The design is specific to Smart Metering and looks to present the optimum solution in terms of balancing environmental and operational considerations and meeting the visual expectation of the area. It is not considered that the proposal would have any significant detrimental visual impact on the existing landscape setting.
It should be recognised that irrespective of the installation’s use as a communications base station, the introduction of a new tall structure within a particular environment will always Offices: Livingston (Scotland), N. Ireland, Birmingham, Chatham (Kent) Directors: David Summers BSc (Hons) MRICS, Russell Frith BSc (Hons), Bruce Moir Harlequin Group Ltd registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 2836322 Registered Office: Innovation Centre, Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9FD Harlequin Group Ltd Rutland House 5 Allen Road Livingston West Lothian EH54 6TQ T:+44(0)1506 462174 www.harlequin-group.com
be, to some degree, a noticeable addition to those residents and regular passers-by found closest. However, it should be appreciated that the visibility of a development or its location within its immediate context does not automatically result in an overwhelming adverse harm occurring. Indeed, the fundamental principle applied by the applicant is always to minimise the contrast between the communication equipment itself and its surroundings through where practicable appropriate siting and design.
We are preparing to make an application to the Local Planning Authority
and it is possible that in due course the authority may notify you about it.
If you have any comments about the proposal please contact us within ten working days of the above date so that your views can, if practicable, be taken into account before we make the application.
My contact details are given below.
Yours sincerely
Martin Brown
Senior Planning Manager
01506 721023
m.brown@harlequin-group.com
On behalf of Arqiva Ltd
Enc:
Drawing Numbers:
306737-00-004-ML001
306737-00-000-MD001
306737-00-001-MD001
306737-00-002-MD001
306737-00-003-MD001