I stumbled upon the details of this new transmission site by accident whilst looking at the planning pages of Worcester City Council's website. After 700MHz clearance in the region in March, reception of Malvern in parts of the city will be affected by co-channel interference from The Wrekin, so seemingly it has been decided that a new transmitter is required to combat this. Digital UK documents confirm the transmitter and that it will be part of an SFN with Ridge Hill.
The chosen site at Elbury Park Reservoir is on an existing Wireless Infrastructure Group tower that has only been used by utilities (presumably Severn Trent Water as the location suggests) up until now. The Gorse Hill and Elbury Mount area is a nature reserve, and the highest part of Worcester city. The views from up here across the city and over towards the Malverns are excellent.
The first pictures show my visit to the site in October 2017 before any work had taken place, and then the final two in January 2018 when it looked like BT fibre had just been installed, with a brand new manhole cover and trench leading into the current enclosure. |