A giant telecoms mast – the tallest in a flurry of recent applications – could be built in the foothills of one of the Lake District’s most popular walks.
The 164ft tall structure to improve mobile phone coverage is planned for woodland near Wythburn Church car park at the south end of Thirlmere off the A591.
The car park is used as one of the routes to England’s highest mountains, Helvellyn, and Dollywaggon Pike. The walk up also provides a rare open panorama across the 3.5 mile long reservoir.
The mast proposal, complete with antennas, dishes and a base station, is the latest in a string of recent applications for the Lake District.
Other masts have been lodged with the Lake District National Park Authority for Bampton, Haweswater (96ft); Great Langdale (96ft) and Buttermere (82ft). A 49ft mast for Hartsop, Ullswater, was approved last year.
The masts are part of a Government-backed scheme to improve 4G or 5G coverage for people living, working and travelling in poorly-served rural areas, as well as helping the emergency services. In 2022, Patterdale Mountain Rescue team attended around a dozen incidents in the Helvellyn, Striding Edge and Swirral Edge areas.
But they have also caused local concern about industrialising the natural landscape, with the application in Buttermere, which has still to be decided, drawing around 60 letters of representation – many of them negative.
For the Wythburn proposal, the applicants said: “Mobile telecoms networks are now ubiquitous throughout the UK. It is an expectation that an individual can connect and use their mobile phone whenever and wherever they are.”
Officials involved said the site is “the most suitable” option and would have “minimal impact”, adding that without a network of base stations in place mobile phones and wireless devices “simply won’t work”.
They said: “This is a remote location with minimal mobile coverage. It is not possible to avoid locating a mast in the national park. The site has been carefully positioned within a forest where the trees rise to some 124ft above ground level.
“In order for the whole of the antennas to clear the trees and reach the target coverage area a height of 164ft is required. The location is close to the existing access track. The trees surrounding the site ensure that much of this site will be screened minimising the prominence and visibility in the surrounding area.”
The project is a collaboration between mobile network operators Virgin Media, 02, Vodafone and Three.
St John’s Castlerigg and Wythburn Parish Council had expressed initial concern at the size and scale of the mast during a consultation late last year.
The application was officially lodged this month and will be decided at a later date.
