Locals are incensed over a phone tower that is being misconstrued as a tree because it looks like a gigantic toilet brush.
Planning authority for the 25-meter-tall tower at Dundas Home Farm in South Queensferry was given last summer.
Locals said that efforts to conceal it with vegetation had failed since it is more than twice as tall as the surrounding trees and like a toilet cleaner.
One person commented, “Oh dear, it certainly doesn’t look like a tree and much more like a gigantic toilet brush.”
The mast alone, according to another person, would have looked better.
A resident said, “Oh my, it looks absolutely nothing like a tree and a lot more like a huge toilet brush.”
They might hang ornaments on it at Christmas, one person quipped, calling it “God’s lavvy brush.”
When the mast’s planning application was accepted in June of last year, there were more than 20 objections against it.
They said it would harm Dundas Special Landscape Area’s “visual amenity” and have a “detrimental” effect on neighbouring Dundas Castle.
One complaint stated: “Except for attempting to conceal this mast construction as an unusually tall tree that would look out of place in the region, the proposal is very much similar to the application that was denied in 2020 by the planning authorities.
According to nearby buildings within the listed area, including the livery and homes inside the listed Dundas Home Farm, “it would seem that the height of this mast is substantially greater than existing surrounding trees.”
Mobile Broadband Network Limited constructed the facility, which serves clients of both EE and Three.
The design was allowed because the planning authorities accepted the operators’ recommendations for a tree-styled mast to lessen the visual effect while maintaining the availability of crucial mobile service for consumers in the region.