Mast at last spells better signal for Manea after years of waiting

Villagers can look forward to being better connected thanks to a new mast being installed this week which is due to be operational in the next few days

It’s a day some residents living in Manea were beginning to think would never come as they have been calling for a better phone signal for years.

Villagers were left disappointed in 2020 when Fenland Council’s planning officers refused permission for a mast on a strip of land outside the village cemetery on Park Road.

Hardly a parish council meeting has gone by since without the issue of poor signal being raised with residents describing parts of Manea as a ‘black hole’ when it came to using a mobile.

In August 2022 there was a collective sigh of relief when planners finally agreed permission for a mast to be put up on the opposite side of Park Road in front of the playing field.

It took another two years for work to install the mast to begin. That started last June when workers were on-site putting in the mast’s cabinet.

They were then due to put the mast itself in place, however, when work to dig the foundations began workmen hit a problem – a pipe that was unexpectedly in the way.

Work was halted and villagers were left frustrated by yet another hold-up.

There have been a further couple of attempts to put the mast in place, but again there were blips – but that has all changed this week when Park Road was closed to traffic overnight on Monday and villagers awoke yesterday morning to find a mast firmly in place, thanks to O2 engineers.

Cllr Ben Bonos, chair of Manea Parish Council, posted an update to the village's Facebook page and explained the final rigging work is due to take place today and tomorrow, with the mast operational from next week.

He has stuck by the project for more than six years and has previously said: “Difficult to sum up this project. At my first council meeting nearly six years ago the first Park Road location had just been refused by Fenland Council planning. Since then we've had to overcome issues with planning officers, trees, land ownership, acquisition, radio requirements, and fibre availability. Even Covid had a good go at derailing us.

“Connectivity issues, whether they are physical or digital are among the biggest disadvantages faced by people who live in rural communities, restricting opportunities for all. It shouldn't be this hard to get things done – But we got there in the end.”