Sean McHenry, National Planning and Community Manager at Cornerstone provides a fascinating insight into the world of National Planning.

Can you introduce the Cornerstone planning department?

The Planning Department at Cornerstone manage all the town planning activities and act as an in-house consultancy providing guidance on Town Planning matters. This includes providing advice on site identification and design or acting as Expert Witness at Tribunal. We establish processes and manuals on how we and our suppliers work and handle site-specific consultations with various stakeholders such as Government, Local Authorities, or elected representatives. We also manage the submission of the various types of applications and appeals. We are involved in various types of Planning reform associated with telecoms infrastructure deployment including providing subject matter expert advice to our customers, Government Relations departments, and the industry trade-body at MobileUK. This often involves working directly with the central and devolved Government as major stakeholder consultees in the writing of new planning legislation, supplementary guidance, and policy. The Planning Department carries out most of the publicly accessible work and deals with the public, their representatives, and public organisations.

What is the process for planning permission in Cornerstone?

For a new build site, planning guidance should be at the very earliest stage. Here, the planning agent can advise on sensitive designations or local amenity issues. This gets fed into a site finders report (SFR) and assists in the most appropriate siting option for progression. Post nomination, there will be a multi-skilled visit (MSV) (A site visit to determine if the site is suitable to host our mobile infrastructure).

From this MSV, drawings will be created for the proposal. These are sent to local stakeholders such as the Local Planning Authority (LPA), Councillors, schools, MPs, Community Groups, Parish Councils, etc. We will involve the LPA for a pre-application engagement at the earliest stage. If we are doing a large rollout with a single LPA, we will engage with them on a more strategic level, so they can understand the bigger picture before they start to receive numerous site-specific consultation requests.

Post pre-application engagement, we will prepare and submit the application or notification for the LPA. Assuming an application is required (as opposed to a notification to utilise permitted development rights), the LPA must determine whether to approve or refuse consent.

Town Planning seeks to achieve ‘sustainable development’ for the public greater good, and sustainable development is deemed to be a balance of environmental impacts against socio-economic benefit. Different weights are attached to these ‘material considerations’ depending upon policy and local site-specific sensitivities. For this reason, our applications will include site-specific discussion and assessment on these aspects, assessing the proposal against local and national planning policies. The LPA will use this assessment, with the responses from other consultees such as Conservation Officers or the public, to make their final determination.

What happens if we don’t get planning permission for a site build?

If we don’t gain the required consent, we will assess the reasons for refusal. If we can overcome the issues, we will resubmit by providing more information, or make amendments to the siting, height, or design. Often, we will appeal to the Planning Inspectorate – a national Government level third party. Sometimes, it may be impossible to overcome, and in these cases, we will have to cancel the option and nominate a new site.

Do we have different processes set for the different regions?

The UK’s four nations – England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – all have various nuances in terms of the planning system, legislation, policy and supplementary guidance. However, while we take account of these regional differences, our processes remain aligned.

What is permitted development rights?

Permitted development rights (PDR) is a national grant of planning permission that allows certain building works and changes of use to be carried out without having to make a planning application, as they are deemed as approved in law (the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO).

There are two different types of PDR – with and without ‘prior approval.’ In cases with prior approval, an application is still required to the Local Planning Authority (LPA). The principle of the development is established in law, and determination can be made on siting and appearance only. There is a statutory 56-day (28 days for some rooftop development in protected areas in Scotland) deadline for determination, though this can be extended by agreement between the parties to mitigate issues and find mutual solutions. If the LPA does not decide within that statutory period, then we are granted ‘lawful deemed consent’ by legal default.

In cases where we have permitted development without prior approval there is no need to submit an application to the LPA. We simply must submit a notification letter to the LPAs detailing our intention to utilise PDRs and detailing what the proposal is. After that, we can go on to site and build within 28 days of the notification letter.

Given we have such rights we must apply them reasonably and responsibly by taking account of local sensitivities and follow best practice commitments.

Cornerstone has been engaging with central and devolved governments over the past number of years – resulting in the adoption of new PDR in Wales (2019), Northern Ireland (Dec 2020) and Scotland (April 2021). These are all positive reforms to help promote deployment of our infrastructure. We have also worked with the Welsh Government to deliver a new Welsh Code of Best Practice (March 2021) and are currently engaging with the UK Government on a new English Code of Practice to be adopted in parallel with the new English PDRs in late Autumn. These reforms will have a significant benefit on our ability to deliver leading-edge connectivity to the UK.

What are Cornerstone’s best practices in getting planning permission?

Cornerstone’s best practice commitments are established in the Code of Best Practice (CoBP) – each UK nation has a slight variation of this, and this CoBP is in the process of review with the Government.

Siting/design best practice commitments include elements such as:

• using existing sites
• site sharing to reduce proliferation
• minimising impact upon sensitive heritage assets
• minimising the impact on sensitive landscapes
• respecting residential amenity
• minimising street scene impact
• reducing contrast by utilising appropriate colouring in design etc.

We apply these principles pragmatically on a site-specific basis.

So, as you can tell, planning mobile infrastructure follows a very thorough, robust process involving lots of different stakeholders and community who together, enable Cornerstone to deliver the mobile connectivity we depend on.

Patricia Hewitt, the former Trade and Industry Secretary and now chair of the telecommunications cross-industry organisation, Speed Up Britain, recently put forward the case for the Electronic Communications Code (The Code) in a Yorkshire Post column. Patricia commented that the only piece of legislation governing the agreements between landowners and operators should be The Code. This will help speed up connectivity improvements and help eliminate 4g not-spots.

You can read the full extract from the column below.

5G rollout in rural Yorkshire is vital for our recovery – Patricia Hewitt

With the pandemic receding steadily and post-Covid Britain coming more clearly into view, the big question we all face is how to kick-start the recovery and deliver on the Government’s ambition to create a levelled-up, built-back-better Britain.

The Government has made it clear that a big part of the answer is rolling out better mobile connectivity across the country. It’s investing heavily in 5G and is committed to covering 95 per cent of the UK’s landmass with 4G through the Shared Rural Network.

This £1bn investment in mobile is being split by industry and Government and should be transformative for rural communities across Yorkshire. And mobile has to be an important part of the solution.

Across the county, low population density – just 76 people per square mile in North Yorkshire versus the English average of 430 – makes the investment needed for fibre extremely expensive for telecoms companies.

That means better mobile is vital in eliminating 4G not-spots and connecting households, businesses and communities so they can reap the benefits of the digital economy.

Operators are hard at work already. EE has already announced upgrades to a range of 4G sites across Yorkshire in 2021, and o2, Three and Vodafone have also announced they will build and share 222 new masts to boost rural coverage this year.

The Government’s 5G plans could also be a gamechanger for these harder-to-reach places – 5G could be 100 times faster than 4G and we know the potential economic prize is massive.

Research carried out by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) tells us that if 5G coverage reaches a quarter more of the population than the Government’s current target of 51 per cent, it will produce GDP gains of £41.7bn by 2027.

But we have a problem. The law introduced in 2017 to help make all of this happen – to make it easier for operators and landowners to strike deals that would enable the rollout of new technology – isn’t working.

This law, the Electronic Communications Code (The Code), governs the relationship between operators and the landowners who host network equipment on their property. It grants operators certain rights, including the ability to upgrade, build new sites, and make savings via rent reductions to reinvest in the rural connectivity we so desperately need.

On rent, the idea was partly to redress an imbalance between telecoms infrastructure and other utilities. Rents for telecoms sites were often in the tens of thousands of pounds each year, while the average for an electricity mast is about £150. Ultimately, the higher the rents, the higher the costs passed along to consumers. However, some landowners remain unwilling to make deals with operators because they feel the rent reductions being asked for are too steep.

Our campaign, Speed Up Britain, recognises the impact these rent reductions can have on the smallest landowners. That’s why our members have committed to case-by-case negotiations to try and agree fair deals within the framework of the code.

And despite what some are saying, the numbers on this should be reassuring. The average rental value for sites across the UK has come down by an average 63 per cent, far less than the 90 per cent+ numbers some in opposition to new rollout are suggesting.

The average rental value for sites across the country is still in the thousands of pounds. But landowners still aren’t coming to the table in high enough numbers to deliver the connectivity we need. Despite having more than 30,000 telecoms sites in the UK, since the code was introduced three years ago, fewer than 500 deals have been completed.

This is a major issue. For every individual who receives lower rent for a mast on their land, thousands benefit – the ambulance drivers who have been able to reach families in need through the pandemic, the families who have been kept connected to one another, the small businesses that rely on mobile connectivity to keep going.

Thankfully, we may now have some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Government has recently closed a consultation on potential revisions to the code. In our submission, Speed Up Britain asked the Government to remove the financial incentives that make it pay to slow down progress; we’ve asked for the code to be the only piece of legislation governing the agreements between landowners and operators, and we’ve asked the Government to ensure that operators can share and upgrade sites when they need to.

These quick fixes will make the code fit for purpose. Doing so should solve our issues with 4G and 5G rollout, and transform the digital futures of communities across Yorkshire.

Patricia Hewitt is the Chair of Speed Up Britain and was UK Trade and Industry Secretary from 2001-05.

Article taken from The Yorkshire Post, Monday 12 April 2021 https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/5g-rollout-in-rural-yorkshire-is-vital-for-our-recovery-patricia-hewitt-3196418