Forrabury and Minster Parish Council welcomes the submission of a planning application for permanent battery backup infrastructure at the Boscastle mobile mast.
The proposal represents a positive step towards improving local communications resilience during power outages, particularly following recent incidents where the village experienced simultaneous electricity and mobile network failures.
The Parish Council has consistently highlighted concerns regarding the increasing reliance on mobile and digital communications infrastructure at the same time as traditional copper telephone lines are being withdrawn nationally. Recent findings from Ofcom’s Mobile RAN Power Resilience Report also identified rural communities as being particularly vulnerable during extended outages.
While this application does not resolve all resilience concerns, it is an important acknowledgement that additional safeguards are needed for rural coastal communities such as Boscastle.
