Landowners are being advised to seek professional advice to secure the best deal following moves to establish new mobile telephone masts across Shropshire and surrounding counties.
Shaun Jones, a rural professional director at estate agents Halls based in Shrewsbury, has had approaches from three separate landowners relating to proposed sites for telephone masts in South Shropshire and the Wrexham area in the last two months. He anticipates more enquiries will follow in the coming months.
"Members of the public are fed up with poor mobile phone coverage in many parts of the country and have put pressure on operators to improve their network," he explained.
"Central government has applied pressure and the operators are now seeking new sites on which to erect masts.
"There has been a notable increase in applications for new sites in Shropshire and surrounding counties and it’s important that landowners seek professional advice to secure the best possible deal and to protect their interests.
"I have just agreed terms for a temporary mast for a trial period before the operator decides whether the site is technically and commercially suitable. Another operator has approached two of our clients in South Shropshire.
"A revised Electronic Communications Code has been proposed which would reduce rental values significantly for new sites.
"The Government is keen for new mast sites to be found and is pushing for rent to be replaced by compensation.
"It’s important that suitable terms are negotiated by landowners with operators and normally the agent’s fee is paid by the operator.
"I have been handling rent reviews and lease renewals and applications for new mobile phone mast sites for 17 years and have several cases pending."
