Stricter planning controls over the erection of satellite dishes is advocated by the Association of District Councils in evidence to the Department of the Environment(*). Current legislation allows one 90 cm dish to be erected on any house, so long at it is not sited above the roof line. The ADC is advocating the reinstatement of earlier controls, so that planning permission would be required for the erection of dishes “in advance of the forward-most part of a dwelling house facing on to the front of a highway”.
Concern about satellite dishes is nation-wide. Representations have been made by a wide range of authorities in urban and rural areas. The proliferation of these dishes is having an adverse effect not only upon obviously attractive or pleasant street scenes in urban conservation areas but also upon more mundane, though intrinsically British, suburbs and terraces. Nor are modern, architect-designed dwellings immune.
The impact of these dishes is growing and the trend is an intensifying one, says the ADC. “Satellite television is here to stay, it is not a passing fad. As a result, if the present situation continues we can expect the erection of many hundreds of thousands more dishes. Unless these dishes are erected sensitively, we will be faced with a slow but steady decline in the visual quality of all our areas.” This is likely to accelerate as further broadcasters set up, possibly requiring separate dishes.
One of the stronger sources of criticism is conservation areas, where development rights for satellite dishes were granted in 1988. This was a shock, the ADC says. “Many thought it was a drafting error, but the DOE claims that it was intentional because the previous controls had been counter-productive, in that dishes had been forced on to roof tops. Quite simply, the change has not worked.”
(*) Association of District Councils, 9 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LE.
