Despite the very wet weather on Tuesday evening, a dozen local residents came to St Augustine's church to hear about plans to install a 5G telecoms mast on top of the church tower. The meeting lasted an hour and questions from the public ranged over the possible health implications from 5G radiation to the heritage and amenity impacts of the plans.

The Trust outlined the cost of maintaining and conserving the church's fabric and how this is funded. The large shortfall between the money available and the cost of conservation mean that some works are long delayed, during which time the fabric of the building may deteriorate further.

We heard that the mast will be fairly short and may not even be visible from the ground. The weather vane on top of the tower will not be removed or moved. The wooden louvre windows slats but not their frames in the top ringing chamber of the tower may need to be modified and/or replaced with GRP slats (GRV = glass reinforced plastic). Stainless steel will be used to support the electronic equipment within the tower. Mains cable will need to be run underground around the outside of the church between the southwest corner of the chancel where the mains fuse box is to the tower in the west.

The cost of obtaining planning permission, all the engineering works and their maintenance will be borne by the telecoms company. The Churches Trust will receive £5000 per year (with an annual inflation allowance increase) for the duration of the contract, which will be for 20 years with a break clause after 10 years. The Trust also stated that all the income from the contract will go to the upkeep of St Augustine's church.

So, we await the Churches Conservation Trust's decision on whether to accept the telecoms company's offer. If it does then the next stage will be to obtain formal planning permission from the relevant planning authority. At which point the public will be able to make comments on the plans. I will keep you posted.