A plan to install a 15-metre (50-foot) telecoms mast by a Hereford pub has been rejected after drawing over 80 objections from residents.

CK Hutchison Networks, which operates the Three phone network, applied a year ago to put up the 5G mast and cabinets beside the Rose & Crown on Ledbury Road in Eign Hill.

The firm said that at two metres taller than the pub building, the height of the mast was “the minimum required to bring the benefits of 5G to this area”, and that it would “assimilate well into the immediate street scene”.

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Six other candidate sites for the mast had been considered in the area, but were found to be “unviable” or had unsuitable pavements, it added.

There were 85 public objections, considerably more than for similar previous planning bids in the county, with many raising concerns over the potential effect of the 5G equipment on public health.

Hereford city council also objected to the proposal, saying it would limit the space on the footpath, while there were “more appropriate nearby areas” that could be used.

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With “locally unparalleled height”, the mast “would dominate its built surroundings and would enjoy little benefit from nearby tree screening”, planning officer Simon Rowles said.

This visual harm, impacting the nearby Hafod Road and Bodenham Road conservation areas, “is not outweighed by the social and economic benefits of enhanced 5G coverage”, he concluded.

And he was “not persuaded as to all the reasons given for discounting potential sites or that a sufficiently robust approach has been taken to the identification of other alternatives”.

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But national and international guidance gives no indication of any health impact from the technology, he added.

The company is attempting to roll out 5G coverage across Hereford and elsewhere in the county.

But several previous efforts to gain permission for the masts, which must be taller and more closely spaced than previous-generation phone masts, have been unsuccessful.