latest news

Fibre-optic cable is laid. Campaigners say that smallholders are being deprived for the sake of “superspeed” connectivity

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Farmers and others who host digital infrastructure fear a bill could make them even worse off

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Our church will lose ‘essential funding’ under new mast law

An Angus father and son are locked in a ‘David and Goliath’ battle with a telecoms giant over rental for a mobile mast site being slashed from £7,200 to just £750 a year.

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Ministers rewrote the Electronic Communications Code in 2017 to allow companies to renegotiate rents they pay to host masts and equipment

It was a major result for Billericay Rugby Football Club when it agreed to let a phone giant put up a 75ft mast beside its main pitch in return for thousands of pounds a year in rent.

The Chairman of Billericay Rugby Club, Neil Jarvis, spoke to GB News' South East Reporter Ellie Costello about how the Club is facing a 91% cut in rent - from £8,500 to £750 a year - which means it will struggle to keep going.

BBC Essex led its Breakfast Show with the news that Billericay Rugby club is facing a 90% cut in rent paid by mobile phone operators for a mast on its land.

Club Chairman Neil Jarvis told presenter Sonia Watson that the cuts could force the closure of the volunteer run club, while Protect and Connect Chair Anna Turley explained how community groups around the country were being affected by these unfair rent reductions.

MOBILE phone operators will grab extra profits from hard-hit communities while breaking promises on the delivery of ultrafast 5G, a former MP has warned.

Campaigners have warned that community groups which rent land to mobile phone giants have seen income collapse due to Government rule changes.

Campaigners have warned that community groups which rent land to mobile phone giants have seen income collapse due to Government rule changes.

Community groups across the country are set to miss out on millions of pounds in rent payments from telecoms giants for phone masts on their land after the Government rejected calls for a rule change.
A consultation was opened by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to look at a potential overhaul, but it has now been rejected.

Campaigners have warned that community groups which rent land to mobile phone giants have seen income collapse due to Government rule changes.

SMALL landowners who host phone masts are demanding a fair deal from fat-cat telecom giants threatening to slash rents by up to 90 per cent.

Hundred of sports clubs, farmers, charities, churches, hospitals and community groups with mobile phone masts on their property say they have seen a drop in rents of up to 90 per cent from mobile phone giants after a change in the law.

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Profit for commercial landlords has taken a drastic downturn over the last 18 months. In
fact, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) estimates unresolved
commercial property rent arrears at £2.76 billion since March 2020.

Interview with Kath Bradshaw

The need to get 5G broadband rolled out across the country is urgent, as every one of us working on creaky Zoom calls can testify.

MUST-WATCH: Huge expose of the Mobile Mast Rip-Off on this morning’s #RipOffBritain on BBC One, which explores why sweeping rental cuts of more than 90% imposed on local sports clubs and parks will result in a slower 5G rollout across the UK. Tune in at 1 min 53 secs:

They don’t just keep us all connected, mobile phone masts have also generated much-needed cash in rent for thousands of community groups.

But a change in legislation has allowed phone companies to cut those payments by up to 90 per cent. They say it will fund access to 5G and broadband across the country.

Fox Lane Sports and Social Club in Lancashire won't accept a rent cut in exchange for use of a phone mast on its land.

The Church gets £14,000 in income from the two masts on its tower but that's all set to change. The church has been told it's facing a 93% rent cut down to £1,000.

Reporter Daragh Corcoran spoke to Church warden Paul Wilkinson and parishioner Susie Bell Proctor about their fears for the future of St Mary's.

A sports club is campaigning to stop the rent it receives from having a phone mast on its land being cut by 90%.
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Fox Lane Sports and Social Club gets about £7,500 a year from EE but following a change in legislation it is set to be reduced to £750.
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Farmer Ed Bailey agreed to host a mobile mast on his farm for £5,500 a year - but then she was offered just £3.50 a year by the telecoms operator. Hear more from Ed on his story, and from Protect & Connect chair Anna Turley on how small landowners like Ed are at the mercy of big telecoms companies.

Rent reductions will make landowners reluctant to let phone masts be put on their property, an MP has warned.

Fox Lane Sports and Social Club has had a mast on its land for 12 years. The club was getting £7,500 a year but they've been told they'll only get £750 a year from now on. Hear more about how this community run club, with one of the oldest cricket grounds in the country, will be hit hard by a 90% rent cut...

Find out more about why landowners have lost an estimated £44.3 million per year in rental income following the introduction of the Electronic Communications Code in 2017

Discover how the mobile mast rip-off has affected farmers in Wales like Ed Bailey from Gwynedd.

Read this powerful piece by Anna Turley on the impact of the mobile mast rip-off in Yorkshire – and all over the UK.

Tune in to this interview with Aylesbury Rugby Club’s Derek Spence, who talks about how they’ve been hit by the Mobile Mast Rip-Off, from 23 mins 30 seconds in.

Whether you have a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Here, Paul Williams of Carter Jonas advises on how to handle an access approach from a mobile phone operator.

Farmers are accusing telecoms companies of abusing a code of practice to force down rents paid to Welsh landowners to site mobile phone masts on their land.

The consultation response from The Law Society to proposed changes to the Electronic Communications Code show that they have “tilted the balance of rights too heavily in favour of operators

Find out how local farmer Ed Bailey was initially offered £5,500 per year by a big telecoms company to host a mobile mast on his land, only to have that offer reduced to just £3.50 per year, leaving him “shocked, surprised and disappointed”

The economy will take a hit of £7.4bn due to the slow rollout of 5G if a dispute between landlords and telecoms companies continues to hold back the technology.
Economists have warned reforms that aimed to reduce the rents telecoms operators pay to landlords for deploying new equipment have held up the spread of faster mobile phone signals across Britain.

Most of us want it both ways. We are keen, often desperate, to get improved mobile coverage. At the same time, we don’t want our precious landscapes scarred by ugly and alien structures. Reconciling the two will always be tricky. However, a little-known piece of legislation called the Electronic Communications Code (EC code) tips the balance too far away from local people and too strongly towards big business.

With the shift to working from home, the importance of digital communications and connectivity has never been more to the fore, and the speedy roll-out of full fibre broadband and 5G networks is viewed by government as critical to the economic recovery.

An Edinburgh pastor said felt “bullied” and “intimidated” by a telecoms company which has cut rent for a mast on his land by 96 per cent.

The new electronic communications code confers “rights” on operators who can exercise certain “powers”. The communications code has tilted unfairly towards operators: something must change
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By Ed John, Partner at Howard Kennedy

Protect & Connect is campaigning on behalf of people and companies whose property is used by telecoms companies

Rival campaigners are locked in a battle to balance the digital needs of rural areas with the interests of landowners

Highfield Park Trust was left with no other option when fighting against a major telecoms company

Farmers have seen their income from telecoms masts slashed by up to 90 per cent since 2017

Aylesbury Rugby Club is campaigning for a change in the law after mobile phone giant EE arbitrarily told the club it was slashing the rent it pays for a phone mast on the club’s ground from £6,000 a year to just £750.

BBC Three Counties Radio spoke to the Secretary and Club Chairman of Aylesbury Rugby Club, Derek Spence and Paul Milham as well as our campaign chair Anna Turley.

Mobile phone giants have been accused of leaving small landowners thousands of pounds out of pocket by using a loophole to dramatically reduce their rents for phone masts.

Farmers are demanding a review of a code of practice that is forcing down the rents they are paid for telecoms masts on their land.
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Since 2017, the Electronic Communications Code has given telecoms companies and infrastructure providers the framework to force rent reductions on masts of up to 90%, says the Protect & Connect lobby group.

A NEW campaign group has been launched to demand a fair deal for the people and companies whose property is used by telecoms companies – some of whom now face rent cuts of up to 90%.

Landowners are launching a campaign against phone firms after being forced to accept rent cuts of 90pc or more for mobile masts on their properties.

Landowners in Scotland claim they are being fleeced by telecoms operators using a scheme to boost network coverage as an excuse for slashing rents they pay for putting mobile phone masts on their land.

Many landowners in Cumbria have telephone masts located on their property with the leases generally historically held under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. This however has changed following the introduction of The Electronic Communications Code, as part of the Digital Economy Act 2017 which came into force on December 28 2017 and so whilst this is not new news, it continues to cause problems.

Farmers with telecoms masts on their land must fully understand radiation exclusion zones to safeguard people’s health and protect against potential liability claims.

A pensioner has reluctantly signed a deal with EE to have a permanent 20-metre-high phone mast in his back garden.

Rollout of 5G could accelerate telecoms operators looking to use land without paying farmers and landowners the prices they may have received in the past.

The UK Government’s push to increase mobile phone coverage across Wales has hidden, and potentially expensive, side effects for farmers, according Farmers’ Union of Wales

The UK Government’s push to increase mobile phone coverage across Wales has hidden, and potentially expensive, side effects for farmers. The revised Electronic Communication Code means that Telecom operators have been able to cut rents paid to those with masts on their land.

The UK Government’s push to increase mobile phone coverage across Wales has hidden, and potentially expensive, side effects for farmers, according Farmers’ Union of Wales

The Digital Minister has said it is ‘an outrage’ that telecoms providers are ripping off farmers by slashing rents for phone mast sites.