AS many as 10 new mobile phone masts could be erected in Lymm if they move from their existing home at Lymm Water Tower.
Mobile phone giant Everything Everywhere, which owns Orange and T-Mobile, is planning on moving its masts from the tower to Lymm Rugby Club.
A second application is due for land on Oughtrington Lane.
Russell Harris, who owns and lives in the tower, believes if other companies based at the site – BT, O2 and Airwave – also move, there would be as many as 10 new masts in the village.
The mobile phone masts have been housed there for more than 20 years and Mr Harris says the phone companies’ claims that the Harris family served them with a notice to quit is a ‘fabrication’.
He added: “For the record, we are happy with all the leaseholders and the telecommunication equipment they have sited on the roof.
“While this matter affects the family directly, there is a bigger picture that will affect Lymm as a whole.
“If Everything Everywhere is successful with its planning application and vacates Lymm Water Tower, precedence will have been set that the other operators at Lymm Water Tower could take advantage of.
“Surveyors estimate if all five operators vacate Lymm Water Tower, a total of 10 stand alone masts would be required in Lymm, to enable each of them to get the same network coverage that they currently get at Lymm Water Tower.”
The Harris family has owned Lymm Water Tower for more than 15 years.
When they bought the building it was home to a number of mobile phone companies, who had masts on the roof.
After a mammoth seven-year conversion, featured on TV, they moved in and have lived there since.
A letter sent to Lymm Parish Council by Everything Everywhere – in which the company says it has been issued with a notice to quit – says Lymm Water Tower is an ‘excellent site’ for the masts.
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