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Department Of Infrastructure
Murray House,
Mount Havelock,
Douglas,
Isle of Man
IM1 2SF
For The Attention of the Chief Planning Officer
Date 19TH March 2015
Dear Sir
Arqiva Transmitting Station Ramsey Tree Mast, Towers Farm, off the A18, Ramsey, Isle of Man IM8 2RG
We write to you in relation to propose works at the above electronic communication site for BBC Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network improvements.
DAB is part of the wider Government regulatory and policy drive towards improved radio broadcasting technologies and greater public choice and access to those services. As part of its licence agreement with the Government, the BBC has agreed to enhance its national DAB coverage to match the existing FM coverage as the switchover from analogue to digital signals draws near. This network expansion is phase four in the national DAB network rollout.
The first objective of this enhancement is to expand the national DAB indoor coverage from just over 93% of the UK population to around 97% and involves adding 162 new digital radio transmitters to the existing DAB network. The new transmitters will be mainly located at existing broadcast infrastructure but some new sites will be required where no alternatives are available. The fourth-phase of the roll-out will bring BBC radio on DAB to an extra 2.5m people and improve coverage for millions of others. When completed, around 49 in 50 people in the UK will be covered by the BBC digital radio network, the DAB phase four project is therefore of national significance.
Digital radio offers fundamental improvements over analogue radio to the great benefit of the listening public and transforms the radio experience to new levels.
At its simplest, the sound quality will be greatly improved - whereas analogue radio tends to suffer from additional noise and interference to the signal from a variety of sources, such as power lines, car ignitions and even other radio stations, DAB is designed to ignore these interfering noise signals.
In addition to being less prone to traditional interference effects, a single frequency can be used to provide DAB coverage over an entire licence area. This makes re-tuning of receivers in different parts of the licence area unnecessary and ensures that signals from multiple transmitter sites improve the signal strength in
areas covered by more than one transmitter. This is of particular benefit to mobile listeners, e.g. for in car radio or public transport passengers on long journeys.
At a more sophisticated level, DAB also provides the opportunity to deliver multiple services and programmes using a single frequency making more efficient use of the radio spectrum and providing greater listener choice as well as reception quality. In addition, those services will for the first time be truly interactive, with scope for pausing and rewinding programmes to the listeners convenience.
DAB therefore delivers clear public benefits, which can be summarised as including:
As indicated above, DAB will not replace the existing FM radio transmissions that are broadcast from Ramsey and so to add DAB services will require the installation of more modern DAB antennas together with a new satellite dish antenna for active site monitoring and some programme feeds.
The specific works required in this case are necessary to allow digital radio to be broadcast from this established electronic communications site. The reuse of existing electronic communications infrastructure for new and expanding networks is consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework and local policy. In this case, the works anticipated are relatively modest in the context of the site as a whole and can be carried out as permitted development, without requiring the prior approval procedures to be followed.
Nonetheless, in approaching this matter, we are aware that the Code of Best Practice on Mobile Phone Development advises in Section 1 that other operators are encouraged to follow the principles of the Code wherever applicable. We have therefore adopted a similar approach towards prior consultation and so carried out a Traffic Light Rating to guide our consultation strategy.
The Traffic Light Rating has been assessed as green. In accordance with best practice we only propose to consult with you as the local planning authority. If however you feel the rating to be incorrect or consider other interested parties should be notified at this stage, then please let us know and pass on copies of this documentation or let us have details immediately.
if you would like to meet or require assistance with any visit to the site or surrounding area, please let us know within 10 working days of receipt of this letter.
at the above. This notification is made under any relevant conditions of the Electronic Communications Code (Conditions and Restrictions) Regulations 2003.
The details of the installation are as follows: -
Argiva Transmitting Station Ramsey Tree mast, Towers Farm, Ramsey, Isle of Man IM8 2RG
National Grid Reference: 245194-493364
Proposed Equipment: 1 – VHF Co -Linear antenna @ 17 metres on the existing tower 1 - Ground based dish antenna 2 – GPS Antennas on the broadcast cabin
We can confirm the installation of the apparatus has been designed and will be operated within the relevant ICNIRP guidelines on public exposure. We can supply a certificate confirming ICNIRP compliance in due course if specifically requested.
We trust this is helpful, but if you have any queries, please let our Stephen N Butler know immediately. For our records, your written confirmation would be helpful and your earliest response will be much appreciated. An email response will be sufficient.
Yours faithfully
ARQIVA LTD
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