COLCHESTER Council has received an apology and a £3,880 refund from the Government’s planning department after an inspector agreed to a phone mast – but had been to the wrong site.

Vodafone and Telefonica asked Colchester Council if it could put the 12.5m mast in Hickory Avenue, Greenstead, last year, but the plans were refused.

The mast would have been near St Andrew’s Junior School and a play area.

But the applicant appealed and in November a planning inspector overturned the council’s decision.

Planning inspector Sarah Stevens ruled it would not damage the “wide and open character and appearance of the area”.

Following the ruling the council said it double-checked whether the inspector, who had made an unaccompanied site visit, had looked at the correct location.

The High Court has now ruled the inspector went to the wrong one, which included a backdrop of buildings, a white fence, lamp posts and benches.

A council spokesman said: “This site description did not tally with the site of the application and appeal.

“Planning officers at Colchester Council picked up on this error and instructed their legal service to initiate legal proceedings against the Secretary of State, for whom the planning inspector issues the appeal decisions.

“The characteristics of the appeal site, in comparison with the site that was visited by the Inspector and that is described in the Inspector’s decision letter, are markedly different.”

The High Court has now quashed the planning inspector’s decision on behalf of the Secretary of State.

The council is to be fully reimbursed for the £3,880 costs in pursuing the legal case.

The Inspectorate will now be asked to reconsider the appeal based on the correct site.

The council wrote to the Planning Inspectorate to point out the mistake and has received an apology from it.

That letter also confirmed the inspector had failed to visit the correct site.

Tim Young, Colchester councillor for St Andrew’s ward, who opposed the original mast plans, said: “I am glad they have admitted their mistake. Perhaps they should invest in some new maps or sat navs to ensure the error is not repeated.

“A mast of this size would have blighted the area.”