A coalition of rural, wildlife and conservation bodies has called for an urgent review of the rollout of mobile network infrastructure across Scotland amid concerns about the impact of masts on the country’s most remote spaces. Organisations including the John Muir Trust, Mountaineering Scotland and RSPB Scotland have written to Sir Chris Bryant, Westminster’s minister of state for digital and data infrastructure, asking for a review of the Total Not-Spot (TNS) element of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. The programme, introduced under the previous Conservative administration, is a collaboration between the UK Government and mobile phone operators including O2 and Vodafone, seeking to achieve 95% 4G mobile phone coverage across Britain.
But the coalition believes the approach taken to achieve the desired coverage so far has been “target-led”, “top-down” and is “failing to consider whether people living in rural areas need the masts”. In Scotland, 260 sites have been classified as TNS – areas the coalition argues have been selected mainly to provide landmass coverage and meet geographical targets of the programme rather than prioritise coverage for communities or transport routes. Member groups believe this has resulted in a scenario where extremely remote and ecologically fragile areas have been chosen to accommodate unnecessary masts, along with related infrastructure and access roads.
The coalition argues widespread agreement among its member orga.