I parked my car on the pavement to stop a 5G mast being built…I'm no troublemaker but I don't want it outside my home | The Sun
A FURIOUS mum dumped her car on a pavement to stop engineers building a 5G mast on her street.
Jodie Whitworth, 44, says she's no troublemaker – but she doesn't want the phone pole outside her Southampton home.
A group of Raymond Road residents had gathered to protest the pole being put up on their street on Wednesday morning.
Jodie, who is on maternity leave from her finance job, took action just as workers were arriving, creating a dramatic stand-off – then later called the police on herself and moved her car when an officer arrived, the Daily Echo reports.
She said: "One of our neighbours knocked on our door on Wednesday and told us that they're putting up the mast.
READ MORE IN NEWS
Ex-England footballer screams as she’s jailed over role in plot to import drugs
Everything you need to know about today’s energy bill plan announcement
"We spoke to the workers and they told us that they were going to start digging.
"My fiancé told me to take our little car and put it where they were going to dig a hole. Although, I think he meant on the road, not on the pavement."
She's since been hailed as a "hero" by her neighbours following her protest.
Plans for the mast were refused last October after locals expressed concerns over it getting in the way of dog walkers and wheelchair users.
Most read in The Sun
Sean Dyche favourite for Bournemouth job as Gary O'Neil odds continue to tumble
Cara Delevingne looks confused & dishevelled after being thrown off Jay Z's jet
Wills, Kate, George, Charlotte & Louis all smiles at new £7k-a-term school
Amanda Holden sends fans wild as she unzips eye-popping jumpsuit in office
Unaware that decision had been overturned, Jodie tried to get an answer from the council herself.
She said: “I rang the council planning department and asked them to say 'yes or no' on whether a 5G mast would be put up on the pavement but all they said was they would pass that on.
“I don’t know what else to do, I’m not a troublemaker but it’s really frustrating.
“For us, it’s about all the sneakiness that is going on, we objected to the plans and they’re still going ahead.”
Jodie claims she asked the workers what's going on who told her they were just following instructions from "the top".
She said: "They have got the money, it’ll happen whatever I do. How on earth is that fair? And what are the council doing? They’re being overridden.”
'DON'T WANT THE MAST'
Neighbour Anne Wheeler was full of praise for her hero neighbour who "did a great job".
The 79 year old cruise port worker said: "On Wednesday I noticed that there were bollards down the road on both sides and workers were arriving.
"My neighbour Jodie acted to take things into her own hands.
"She did a great job. I think she's a hero. It's not the right place for a mast, there would be no room for pedestrians.
"We just want more information from the council."
Another neighbour, Margarita Rushbridge, 60, said; "The workmen were complaining that it had taken them three hours to get to the site and now they couldn't do anything.
"We don't want the mast here."
A spokesperson for the local authority said Southampton City Council did approve a permit request from T-Mobile to carry out trial holes to test "the feasibility of a potential new telecommunications mast".
They said: “The installation of a telecommunications mast in this location has not been approved and requires an application for prior approval for its siting and appearance to be submitted to the local planning authority.”
Read More on The Sun
I have no collar bones & people are always stunned when I show them my ‘trick’
I get slammed for having my Christmas decs up early – but I have a good reason
No further applications have been received by the council to erect a mast on Raymond Road while there weren't any appeals over the original planning decision in October 2021.
An update from T-mobile on its future plans has been requested.
Source: Read Full Article