Maitland Close Telecommunication Equipment Upgrade

As some of you may already be aware, our neighbours at Maitland Close are in the process of having the existing telecommunications equipment on their roof upgraded to 5G equipment by a contractor working on behalf of the equipment owner and operator EE Ltd and H3G UK Ltd.
Unfortunately Maitland Close falls outside of the boundaries of the Ashburnham Triangle Conservation Area for planning purposes, and with the government support of the roll out of 5G across London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast during 2019 under the Electronic Communications Code from 2017 the operators and owners of existing telecommunications equipment outside of conservation area’s benefit from Permitted Development Rights to replace, upgrade, enhance their equipment without the need for full planning permission to be sought or for the need of public consultation.
Waldon Telecom Ltd the contractor working on behalf of EE and H3G did submit plans to the Council and notified them of their intention to enhance the existing equipment (which currently provides 4G) back in March this year, but as the project falls within permitted development, such notifications do not constitute a planning application and only permit the Council 28 days to respond themselves.
Unfortunately it would appear that these enhancements are rather large and visually unappealing – both officers from the Planning and Housing teams are monitoring the progress and ensuring that the equipment is as per the original notifications. Affected residents are in contact with Cllrs’ Kirby and O’Mara.