Westerham Backs Bowls Club Phone Mast 67-33 in Community Vote - But Planning Was Already Decided

A 20-metre telecommunications mast could be on its way to the edge of Westerham, after a mobile operator applied to install a monopole at the town's bowls club - and residents now have a say, with Westerham Town Council running a community vote on whether it should go ahead.

The application, reference 26/01941/TELNOT, is for a 20-metre-high monopole accommodating 12 antennas and two transmission dishes, along with ground-based equipment cabinets inside a fenced, secure compound, at Westerham Bowls Club within King George's Field on Costells Meadow - a short walk from the town centre. It was received and validated by Sevenoaks District Council on 21 July.

It's come in as a prior notification rather than a full planning application, which is the route mobile operators use for this kind of infrastructure under permitted development rights. That matters for anyone hoping to object: the principle of whether a mast can go there at all isn't really up for debate under this process, since permitted development rights already establish that. What the council can weigh up is narrower - the siting and appearance of the structure - so any objection needs to focus on where exactly it sits and how it looks, rather than whether Westerham needs one in the first place.

Westerham Town Council has since opened its own community vote, asking residents and locally based businesses whether it should support the mast going ahead. Voting is open online via a form on the council's website, or on paper: voting papers can be collected and completed at the council's offices at Russell House, Market Square, or at Westerham Library, and returned to either location. Voting closes at 3pm on Friday 2 October.

Anyone who wants to comment on the planning application itself can still do so through Sevenoaks District Council's planning portal by searching the reference 26/01941/TELNOT - separate from, and in addition to, the town council's own vote.

The community vote has now closed, and Westerham Town Council has published the results: residents backed the mast 67% to 33%, with local businesses voting more strongly in favour at 78% to 22%. Following discussion at its council meeting, the town council agreed to move to the next stage of the process. But the vote's result won't change whether the mast is allowed to go up: Sevenoaks District Council's planning portal shows the application was already decided - Prior Approval Not Required - on 10 September, around two weeks before the town council's vote even opened. Under permitted development rules, that decision means the council found no grounds to block the mast on siting or appearance, and the matter hasn't been awaiting a decision since.

With planning effectively settled, the practical hurdle left is the land itself. King George's Field is held by Westerham Town Council on behalf of the national charity Fields in Trust, which the council's own past committee papers describe as "responsible for ensuring our field is used principally" for public outdoor recreation. Building on the field typically needs separate landowner consent, distinct from planning permission - so the council's "next stage" most plausibly means deciding whether to grant that consent, though its press release doesn't spell out what the next step actually involves or when it will be discussed again. Sources: Sevenoaks District Council, Westerham Town Council, Westerham Town Council, vote results press release