Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca has expressed her surprise at the recent opinion of Bray Town Council planning staff that the new mast on Bray Garda station does not require planning permission.

Cllr de Burca says that letters will be issuing shortly from Bray Town Council to local residents to inform them that the new mast is “exempt development”. The Green Party councillor says that this decision is very surprising as the new mast at Bray Garda station is going to accommodate a greater number of mobile phone companies. “It would appear that the function of the new mast will be commercial to a significant extent” she says. “If so, it should require planning permission, even if it has been erected by the OPW”.

Councillor de Burca says that she and her party colleague Cllr Ciaran O’Brien are very concerned about the possible impacts of the new mast on the surrounding residential area.

“People living close to the Garda station are very concerned about possible health impacts” says Cllr Ciaran O’Brien. “If the council has decided that this mast is exempted development that does not require planning permission, then residents will have to consider whether they wish to use a Section Five referral initially to Bray Town Council and then to an Bord Pleanala to determine whether the mast is indeed “exempt development”.

The Green Party says that the lack of consultation and communication between the OPW and Bray Town Council in relation to the erection of the new mast was “unacceptable”, regardless of whether the mast required planning permission or not. “It would have been a basic courtesy for the OPW to inform the council that it intended to erect the new mast, so that local residents wouldn’t be left in the dark” says de Burca. “However, they did not see fit to do so. This reflects poorly on the OPW as a leading state body”.