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Police radios cut off by mast opponents
Fight against ‘ironmongery clutter’ results in dead zone
A POLICE radio dead zone has been created in Hampstead after a powerful conservationist group blocked plans for a vital link in the communication network because the mast would spoil the view.
The new Airwave police radio system does not work in some Hampstead streets because the local geography cuts the signal. Proposals for a 10-metre high booster mast in Heath Road were rejected by council planners in September last year after objections from a nearby resident and the Heath and Hampstead Society, which branded the mast an “excrescence” and said “approval would be an outrage”.
Phone firm O2, which is contracted by the Home Office to run the new digital radios for the police nationally, appealed against the council’s decision on the grounds that the proposed mast site, next to Whitestone pond on Hampstead Heath, already contained a number of nearly identical masts disguised as lampposts.
But Gordon Maclean, spokesman on planning issues for the Heath and Hampstead Society, said this week that its objection would not be withdrawn. He added: “We made our decision to object on conservation grounds. It was outrageous that the highest point in London should be cluttered up with ironmongery.
“We are not convinced there are not other alternatives, and we stand by our belief that Whitestone pond is not an area that should be cluttered up with masts.”
Hampstead Conservative councillor Kirsty Roberts said: “If this is specifically for a police radio system I will not be objecting because it is a security issue. There is a safety element here and I have to look at safety issues for residents.”
On Tuesday, Camden police’s Supt Roger Smalley said that, although police were able to use the old radio system as back-up, he would like the Airwave coverage issue resolved.
He added: “O2 are dealing with it and they have to go through the right channels.”
Met radios expert Chief Supt Peter Goulding told a Town Hall committee last week that 99 per cent of London’s streets were covered by the Airwave system, but that certain streets needed additional boosts from extra masts. On security grounds, he refused to disclose which streets were affected in Hampstead.
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