CORNWALL could face mobile blackspots as landowners warn they may walk away from hosting phone masts after being hit with rent cuts of up to 90 percent.

The government is now preparing to expand the same rules even further, sparking concern that local connectivity could get even worse.

Landowner groups and Cornish residents warn changes made in 2017 to the electronic communications code, when the Government gave mobile operators sweeping powers to slash the payments made to landowners, often farmers, small businesses, councils and even NHS trusts, for hosting masts. Instead of speeding up rollout, the policy triggered more than 1,000 legal disputes, compared with just 33 in the three decades before.

The result has been slower, not faster, progress. The UK already ranks near the bottom in Europe for 5G availability, with just 45 per cent coverage compared to more than 80 per cent in countries like Denmark and Finland.

For local landowners, the impact has already been devastating.

Paul Hautot from Newquay, said: “All I received was a letter telling me the rent would be slashed to a fraction of what was agreed. It felt like a take-it-or-leave-it demand. Hosting a mast is disruptive enough without the rules being rewritten after the fact. If this is how agreements are treated, you have to ask why anyone would want to host a site in future.”

Despite this evidence, the government is pressing ahead with plans to extend the same broken system to 15,000 more sites through part two of the product security and telecommunications infrastructure act.

The expansion marks a major u-turn. In opposition, then-shadow digital secretary Lucy Powell MP warned the policy would likely “slow down, rather than speed up” the delivery of 5G and broadband. Now in power, Labour is doubling down on a model that is widely seen as broken.

Local landowners warn the move would be the final straw. A national survey of more than 500 site providers revealed that 35 per cent are now considering walking away from hosting masts altogether if the expansion goes ahead, citing rent cuts, mounting legal pressure from operators, and a collapse in trust as key reasons.

With Cornwall already ranked 64th out of 96 areas for mobile connectivity, more landowners walking away from hosting masts will only make a bad situation worse.

National Farmers Union vice president Rachel Hallos warned: “it’s concerning that a significant number of site providers are considering walking away from hosting telecommunications infrastructure, adding that their “members do not feel listened to by operators or government when it comes to having a say over what is happening on their land.”

Experts warn that unless ministers change course, Britain’s digital ambitions risk being undermined by their own policy. With landowners preparing to walk away, legal disputes mounting, and international rivals pulling ahead, the government is in danger of locking the UK into second-rate connectivity - leaving communities across Cornwall at risk of mobile blackspots.