THAME Town Council will decide tonight whether or not to go ahead with a controversial telecoms mast at a park in the historic town.

Shared Access – which owns and operates wireless communications structures – wants to build the 17.5m tower at Southern Road Recreation Ground to expand mobile coverage across the area.

Consultation has now ended for the scheme, dubbed the 'Thame Tower', and of the 31 responses 20 were objections.

Concerns raised included the visual impact on the area as well as health and safety issues and the potential for vandalism.

Answering public concerns in documents prepared ahead of tonight's meeting, town clerk Graham Hunt argued that the mast would not be overbearing.

Citing a steering group report and information from Shared Access he said: "The siting of the mast is away from residential properties and any historic assets or sensitive views.

"The majority of views from residential properties have a level of screening from trees surrounding the recreation ground and will see the mast with the backdrop of the trees to the western border.

"The closest residential properties are on Southern Road and views from these properties will be screened by the trees surrounding the recreation ground and the building."

"The level of screening and distance from residential properties around the park ensures that the impact on residential amenity is not overbearing.

"In terms of visual impact, planning must strike a balance between the impact and the benefits.

"No location will have absolutely no visual impact and in this instance it is considered that the impact is minimal with benefits of the scheme heavily outweighing this limited impact."

Other concerns raised during the consultation including lighting and whether the town needs the mast altogether.

In response, the town council said that the mast would help provide 4G wireless internet coverage across Thame.

Mr Hunt said: "Ofcom requires 98 per cent of the British population to have access to a 4G network by the end of 2017.

"To achieve the indoor and outdoor coverage and capacity goals set by Ofcom for 2G, 3G and 4G technology, new site locations will be required closer to population centres as each technology type works off different sectors within the radio spectrum.

"There are four licensed operators and this mast will provide for two of those operators, O2 and Vodafone, to provide 4G coverage in Thame.”

Shared Access is preparing to submit a formal planning application to the town council on June 27 if the town council does not block the application tonight.

The meeting will be held at 6.30pm at the Town Hall and is open to the public.