A 5G mast is expected to be built at a cricket club in Crouch End after it was inadvertently approved by town hall planners.
Haringey Council notified Cornerstone, a joint venture telecommunications company between Vodafone and O2, that it would refuse its application to build the 20m mast in May last year.
The proposed development next to Park Road outdoor swimming pool at Hornsey Cricket Club was deemed to be “visually intrusive” due to its scale and prominent location.
But it has since transpired that the council refused the application a day late; national legislation states that permitted development applications, which phone masts fall under, must be responded to within 56 days.
Crouch End councillor Luke Cawley-Harrison – who is part of the Liberal Democrat opposition – claimed the error pointed to a "last minute" culture at the Labour-run council.
He said: “This is a shocking error from Haringey Council, and underlines why the “last minute” culture, which affects planning enquiries, complaint responses, housing issues and more, is utterly unacceptable.
“Residents, and in particular Hornsey Cricket Club, are now left to deal with the consequences of the council’s negligence - this simply is not good enough.”
Haringey Council has now apologised for the “regrettable error”, which it claims took place due to a glitch in the planning team’s IT system.
Cabinet member for planning, Cllr Sarah Williams, said: “The fault has now been rectified and we have put in place stringent measures to reduce the risk of this happening again.
“We have a strong record of opposing inappropriate applications here at Haringey Council, including those through permitted development rights. Any planning refusal can be appealed.”
She added that the council’s planning team deals with more than 2,000 applications each year and that it is “pretty uncommon” for an error to take place.
Applicant Cornerstone confirmed that it had gained planning permission for the mast through “deemed consent”, and anticipated building it “in due course”.
A spokesperson for the telecommunications company said: “Cornerstone understands that our mobile infrastructure can impact communities and lead to concern about proposed developments.
“For this reason, we give great consideration to the location and design of our developments.
“We have gained planning permission for a proposed base station at Hornsey Cricket Club which will provide network coverage for residents and visitors to the area.”
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