COUNCILLORS are wasting their time deciding whether to approve mobile phone masts, a meeting heard yesterday.
Councillor Cyndi Hughes spoke out as Darlington Borough Council's planning committee considered whether to give prior approval for a 15 metre mast on land next to the roundabout at the junction of Salters Lane North and Thompson Street East.
Planning officers told the meeting that even if councillors withheld a decision, it would be deemed approved within 56 days of the application being made, under planning laws.
Coun Hughes said: "It seems a total waste of time and money and effort. I just wonder why these applications keep coming to us when we can't do anything about them.
"As an authority we really don't have any authority."
The committee voted to approve the plan, though Coun Hughes abstained. One letter objecting to the scheme had been received.
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