AN application has been made to decide if planning permission is needed for an 82 feet tall telecommunications mast to be put on top of Exmoor’s Culbone Hill.

Cornerstone, the UK’s leading mobile infrastructure services company, wants the lattice mast with three antennae and two microwave dishes to be sited close to an existing telecoms tower.

It has asked Exmoor National Park Authority for ‘prior approval’, effectively a confirmation that the company has the right to carry out the development without submitting a full application.

Cornerstone director Rob Sinclair said the new mast, close to the Lillycombe Estate, would be used by two of the country’s main telecommunications operators to provide a high-quality 4G service to the surrounding rural area.

Mr Sinclair said Cornerstone had more than 20,000 sites around the UK and was committed to enabling best in class mobile connectivity for more than half of all the country’s mobile customers.