Farmer mobile phone rent income reduced from £5,500 to £3.50

[anonymoususer]

Klippie said:

This has got me thinking...I have a street light in my front garden maybe I should be claiming rent from the lazy bd council...or better still waiving the council tax, that sounds good to me.

How did that occur ?
I'm guessing old property ?

[untakenname]

The planned retirement of the Airwave emergency services system which used Tetra to the switch over to 4g provided by EE means coverage will be needed everywhere in the UK the emergency services may get called to so there's special exemptions in place for the phone companies providing the masts.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/15/mindset_res...

Due to the lower frequency Tetra masts have a range of around 60km in rural settings whilst 4g only have a range of around 20km in best conditions before the signal degrades to the point that data transfer is compromised.

[RowntreesCabana]

He'll have to make do with the government subsidies for not growing crops on some of his fields then.

[saaby93]

anonymoususer said:

Klippie said:

This has got me thinking...I have a street light in my front garden maybe I should be claiming rent from the lazy bd council...or better still waiving the council tax, that sounds good to me.

How did that occur ?
I'm guessing old property ?

Same for where you have a streetlight screwed to the front of your house? Should you receive a rent?

Or a street sign name plate

[Burwood]

citizensm1th said:

SpeckledJim said:

£5,500 p/a for about 16m2 of otherwise 'empty' countryside was ridiculous.

£3.50 is ridiculous too.

£250 seems about right to me.

You have to make the farmer want to say yes

Back in the early 90s, Bell South turned up in NZ to create the first mobile network. They messed up massively by not realising how undulating the topography is and had to negotiate with farmers everywhere to put in Masts on hills to get better coverage. Countless farmers managed to get 5k dirt tracks sealed as part of the deal. It cost 100s of millions and in the end cost so much it strained the Parent company in the US, they sold the network to Vodafone at a massive loss. I was one of the auditors at the time and one had to vouch the mast costs which varied from 80k to 1m all because the land owner sweeteners varied so much

[simonrockman]

untakenname said:

The planned retirement of the Airwave emergency services system which used Tetra to the switch over to 4g provided by EE means coverage will be needed everywhere in the UK the emergency services may get called to so there's special exemptions in place for the phone companies providing the masts.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/15/mindset_res...

Due to the lower frequency Tetra masts have a range of around 60km in rural settings whilst 4g only have a range of around 20km in best conditions before the signal degrades to the point that data transfer is compromised.

That won't be an ESN mast. I've been all over ESN since early 2015. Back then I predicted that it would be 10 years late when I wrote:
https://www.theregister.com/2015/01/08/airwave_tet...
Seems like I was optimistic. They still haven't got push to talk working and say it will be at least 2022. And DMO? probably never.
It's been de-scoped from being a high speed data service to just doing the voice and text that Airwave did but with worse coverage.

[Jim the Sunderer]

RowntreesCabana said:

He'll have to make do with the government subsidies for not growing crops on some of his fields then.

I don't know what these are but it makes a few grand for a phone pole look like pocket change.

Agri-environment-climate £131,631.65
Reimbursement of financial discipline £2,509.71
Redistributive payment £6,048.86
Basic payment scheme £98,623.05
Greening: practices beneficial for climate and environment £76,501.89

Source: DEFRA CAP, year 2020.

[skwdenyer]

Mammasaid said:

Muncher said:

Mammasaid said:

Can you quote the act please? As a landowner, I'd say no to anyone who wanted to put a mast on my land for £3.50.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/policy/electronic-comm-code

If they really wanted to put a mast on your land, you wouldn't have any choice in the matter, the operators have statutory rights to do so.

Having had a quick read through, it's not quite as black and white as that. The operator and the landowner have to come to an agreement and if they cannot agree, only then can the operator can take it to court. It's not the case that the operator can say, "This is what we're going to do, like it or lump it".

In reality, if both parties cannot agree, I'd wager that the operator would find a different site if possible.

See the recent court case over access to conduct a survey. They absolutely will go to court if they feel they need the site.

[Mammasaid]

skwdenyer said:

See the recent court case over access to conduct a survey. They absolutely will go to court if they feel they need the site.

That may as well be, however it would be as a last resort.

[simonrockman]

There are special rights for the Emergency Services Network Extended Area Service which is being built not by EE but by the Home office, but as there are 38,000 sites in the UK and the plan is for 70 ESN EAS sites, all of which will be in the most remote, hard to cover areas it's not like it's some grand plan by the telcos to diddle farmers.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

CoolHands said:

Don’t think I will ever feel sorry for a farmer

What makes you say that? Its hard work farming - I used to do a bit of work for one when I was in college.

[simonrockman]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

CoolHands said:

Don’t think I will ever feel sorry for a farmer

What makes you say that? Its hard work farming - I used to do a bit of work for one when I was in college.

Quite, watched the first two episodes of Clarkson's farm last night.

[m_cozzy]

Jim the Sunderer said:

I don't know what these are but it makes a few grand for a phone pole look like pocket change.

Agri-environment-climate £131,631.65
Reimbursement of financial discipline £2,509.71
Redistributive payment £6,048.86
Basic payment scheme £98,623.05
Greening: practices beneficial for climate and environment £76,501.89

Source: DEFRA CAP, year 2020.

I worked on a contract installing IT kit across the 6 or 7 RPA (rural payment agency) sites a good few years back.
They had about 5500 users, who's sole job was to pay farmers their benefits.

The sites also seemed to be based in high unemployment areas. It seemed like a massive waste of public money, high numbers of pointless non-jobs.

[troika]

CoolHands said:

Don’t think I will ever feel sorry for a farmer

Certainly the generational ones who pass everything down tax free and coin in the subsidies. Needs comprehensive review and overhaul. Tenant farmers are a different kettle of fish.

[bigmowley]

Amusingly we get a Cheque every year for £16 from our local Utility provider for a substation in a corner of our land. Thing is they took it out about 15 years ago