Council's £180k bill for mast row

The mast is part of a digital emergency services radio system

A Cornish council has been ordered to pay £180,000 in legal costs after an unsuccessful battle to remove a controversial emergency radio mast.

Councillors wanted the mast pulled down after it had been put up at Mawnan Smith, near Penryn, without approval.

But company O2 Airwave appealed and Kerrier District Council withdrew from the inquiry after deciding it was unlikely to win.

The Planning Inspectorate ordered the council to pay the firm's appeal costs.

'Lessons learnt'

The mast attracted protests about health concerns when it was erected without planning permission in November 2004.

The council then issued an enforcement notice requiring it to be taken down.

O2 Airwave appealed against the order for the mast, which provides coverage for a police and emergency services radio system.

The company said it was sorry the council would be affected by the payout but said it believed the authority's actions had been unreasonable.

Nicola Stinson, the acting head of service planning at the council, said: "It was a unanimous decision of the planning committee to refuse that planning application. There seemed to be good grounds at the time to make that decision.

"The fact that the Planning Inspectorate disagreed with us on this occasion, there may be lessons to learnt there."