AT ITS open planning meeting last week, political members of the still incommunicado Environment board took a fairly drastic decision and told Airtel Vodafone that it could not erect a new mobile mast in the Vale.

The outcome was significant for several reasons – and all of them bad.

Whether the 18-metre pole should be placed at Oakleigh Vinery, Landes du Marche, or not is largely a matter of opinion and 35 individuals were opposed, largely on health grounds.

The issue for Environment to decide, however, was whether there was sufficient reason for the monopole not to be put up, especially on health grounds.

Individuals can do what they like with their property unless the law says to the contrary and, when it comes to planning, the guiding policies are clearly spelled out.

The professional advice received by the deputies on Environment was unequivocal. There was no reason to deny the mast application, particularly on health grounds. Its officers are not expert in that area and rely on those who are, in this case, Environmental Health and the Medical Officer of Health. They saw no problem.

Additionally, permission would have been a further step in a process sought by Environment to remove another mast that is acknowledged to be in a sensitive location and should be replaced.

Because the department is sensitive about its poor reputation in planning matters, it sets out its role in the process and that of its officers and says, among other things, that ‘the board is accountable to [islanders] in a way that the staff are not and must reach the “right” decision in relation to the legal and policy frameworks that exist’.

How has it done that in this case? It has gone against professional advice from its own team and experts at Health and Social Services and thwarted its own aim of removing a mast elsewhere.

In addition, because the ‘open’ planning meetings are one-way, board members can utter any nonsense about sharing, safety and so on and not be challenged by those in the know.

The reality, for all Environment’s fine words, is that it will ignore professional advice on a whim when it suits members’ individual prejudice.