Westerham Residents Get a Vote on the Bowls Club Phone Mast, Open Until 2 October

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, and remains awaiting a decision.

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, up until a decision is made - separate from, and in addition to, the town council's own vote. Sources: Sevenoaks District Council, Westerham Town Council