A WOODLEY park will not have a phone mast installed in it after the planning inspector agreed with campaigners that the site was not the right place.
Bulmershe and Whitegates councillor Shirley Boyt was delighted with the news that Vauxhall Park will remain a green space.
Telecoms operators wanted to install a 20m mast with four transmission dishes and eight cabinets within a fenced compound on the land, despite being metres away from the Headley Road industrial estate.
Wokingham Borough Council’s planning officers had turned down the plan, and the telecoms company appealed the decision. But following a site visit by the planning inspectorate earlier this month, this was dismissed.
The inspector noted the park was “widely used for a variety of recreational activities” and there was a “relative scarcity of other areas of public open space in the locality”.
He added: “Its value to the local community is also reflected in the multitude of local representations received in connection with this appeal.”
The equipment would be “alien” and “juxtapose starkly with the rural character of the park”, he added, saying “less harmful” alternative sites for the mast had not been fully explored, and dismissed the appeal.
Cllr Boyt told Wokingham Today: “This is a really good result, I am chuffed to bits.
“Loads of people worked really hard for this, knocking on doors and delivering flyers to ensure people put in objections to the plan.
“People were really galvanised to protect a well-loved park.”
She said that the telecoms equipment needed to go somewhere in the area, but felt other sites needed to be properly investigated.
“The report completely vindicated exactly the things I had put into my objections all the way down the line,” she continued. “They hadn’t adequately explored other sites, and they are supposed to, as per the code of practice.”
Woodley Town Council also objected to the plans, sharing concerns that it would have a negative impact on the park, the Scout Hut and nearby Rivermead Primary School.
Part of the campaign was about the wider issue of protection Wokingham borough’s parks and green spaces from potential development of phone masts. If 1,500 people sign it, it will force a debate at a Wokingham Borough Council meeting.
The aim would be to create a resolution that the council would not sell or lease land in recreational spaces to telecoms operators.
“This is about the wider issues when it comes to protecting the parks,” Cllr Boyt said. “It means there will be something in place – we don’t want this issue to keep coming up.
“We need to be able to say no to this infrastructure in our parks and valuable green spaces.”
The petition can be signed at woodleylabour.org.uk/protectourparks
