Mobile mast victory for Northumberland residents who struggled to contact emergency services

Cllr Steven Bridgett, who represents the Rothbury ward on Northumberland County Council, had been pushing for planning applications for mobile phone masts to include a back-up generator and fuel storage following a total breakdown in communications during last November’s Storm Arwen.

The storm caused widespread powercuts and in some places saw mobile masts left without power.

Many relied on back-up batteries, which only lasted a few hours.

With power cuts lasting up to two weeks in some areas, it meant residents were left without any means of communication and were unable to access information from the likes of Northern Powergrid, or access emergency services.

At a meeting of the council’s county emergency committee, Cllr Bridgett said: “The only way residents I represent could access emergency services was by carrier pigeon or smoke signal. There was no other masts.

“The biggest issue for us in the Rothbury area and other rural areas is the resilience of mobile infrastructure. We’ve had a bit of a victory on that with a new mast that Virgin 02 wanted to put up in the Rothbury area.

“I want to say thank you to (director of planning) Rob Murfin and his team. The companies didn’t want to build any back-up generators to the mast, so it would be useless in a powercut because I think the batteries only last about eight hours.”

Last week, Cllr Bridgett told residents at a public meeting in Rothbury that, although there was no planning law to force companies to do so, the council’s “default position” would now be to try and negotiate with companies to include the generator back-ups.

It would mean that, in the event of a powercut, the generators would be able to be topped up indefinitely, giving residents access to vital communication.

The meeting’s chairman, Cllr Colin Horncastle, who also represents a rural ward in South Tynedale, added: “Residents were kept in the dark. They had no idea when the electric was going back on and in my area it was off for 12 days.”

At the same meeting, council leader Glen Sanderson heavily criticised the response of Northern Powergrid to Storm Arwen, with the first anniversary of the storm fast approaching.