A BID to erect a 30m high communications mast in the heart of the Forest has been rejected after planners heard it could ruin the setting of a manor house built by King Charles II.

Telecom giant EE wanted to build the lattice-framed mast near Cockshoot Woods in Bailey Hill, Yorkley, as part of the UK government’s new Emergency Services Network (ESN) – designed to turn mobile phone ‘not spots’ into ‘hot spots’.

But it would have been within 300m of the Danby Lodge holiday retreat, built by the ‘Merry Monarch’ in the 1670s on the recommendation of diarist and government naval official Samuel Pepys, to oversee a section or ‘walk’ of the Forest and protect the country’s main source of timber for ship building.

The house (pictured above) was named after Charles II’s High Treasurer, the Earl of Danby, and there were six ‘walks’ in all, including the ‘King’s Lodge’ on the site of today’s Speech House.

Conservation adviser David Haigh told Forest planners there was ‘potential harm’ to the setting of the historic lodge, and EE had supplied too little information to properly assess the impact.

A neighbour also said she would be able to see the disproportionately high mast from her cottage home.

She said: “I moved to the Forest of Dean to avoid building works such as this… it is completely out of character with the surrounding beauty of Cockshoot Woods.”

The woodland acccess track was unsuitable for construction work and the area was popular with visitors and youngsters doing their Duke of Edinburgh badges, she added, while the mast would cause noise pollution and affect holiday cottages nearby.

Holiday cottage owners Jill Brown and Gareth Lawes told planners it would destroy “a peaceful haven” and “ecological green place” which was currently free of cars and “urban clutter”.

Fundraising fun runs and bike trail events would also be hit by disruption during the construction phase, they claimed.

EE’s plan would have seen the 30m high mast with a 1.2m diameter satellite dish set in a 110m sq fenced compound, with three equipment cabinets and a generator.

They wanted it to form part of the new blue light service across the country, using 4G telecom technology to keep 999 services connected whatever the location.

The application said: “Largely because of demographics and geography, there exist a number of areas in the country which have not been populated with mobile communications infrastructure. It is these ‘not-spots’ which are addressed by the Extended Area Services (EAS) project.”

But rejecting the mast scheme, planners said: “Lacking a heritage assessment, the application documents fail to show that the proposal would not do unacceptable harm to the setting and significance of a designated heritage asset, Danby Lodge, a grade II-listed building.”

Danby Lodge’s own website says the manor house is “set deep within the Forest of Dean in a secluded, commanding position overlooking thousands of acres

of forest.

“It is a Grade II-listed, six-bedroom lodge, originally built by order of Charles II, on the recommendation of Samuel Pepys.

“In the mid 1670s, Charles II ordered that the Forest of Dean be divided into six walks. Each of the walks were provided with a lodge and placed in charge of a keeper.

“Danby Lodge is one of the six original forest lodges, named after the Earl of Danby, High Treasurer to Charles II.

“The walks were created in order to keep a watch over the wood in the forest.

“The Forest of Dean was one of the UK’s main sources of oak which was needed to build boats to fight the Spanish.”