As part of the government’s plan to improve 4G and 5G mobile coverage, it has amended planning laws which will allow telecoms firms to upgrade existing infrastructure, reducing the need for new phone masts.

Firms will be allowed to make new and existing masts up to five metres taller and two metres wider than current rules allow. This means existing masts can be a maximum 25m in height in unprotected areas while new masts can be a maximum of 30m in unprotected areas and 25 metres in protected areas, subject to approval by the local authority.

By increasing the width and height of masts, this will increase their range and allow operators to fit more equipment on them so they can be more easily shared.

It should also mean better coverage to road users, allowing building-based masts to be placed nearer highways.

Further, “tough new legal duties” on operators will be brought in to “minimise the visual impact of network equipment”, particularly in protected areas such as national parks, conservation areas, world heritage sites and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Digital infrastructure minister, Julia Lopez, said: “We’ve all felt the frustration of having the ‘no bar blues’ when struggling to get a phone signal, so we’re changing the law to wipe out mobile ‘not spots’ and dial up the roll out of next-generation 5G.

“Phone users across the country will benefit – whether they are in a city, village or on the road – and tighter rules on the visual impact of new infrastructure will ensure our cherished countryside is protected.”

The planning reforms to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 apply to England only as planning is a devolved policy matter. The government intends to bring forward the changes via secondary legislation “as soon as parliamentary time allows” after first proposing them in April 2021.