Telecom 'exploited loophole' over cellphone tower

BY BRONWYN TORRIE AND JESSICA SUTTON

It isn't good enough that residential property owners, a daycare centre and a primary school were neither informed nor consulted about the decision to build a cellphone tower on Tremaine Ave, says Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway.

Cellphone towers can be built without any permission from neighbours if the owners tick off all the compliance rules set down by local councils.

But this isn't good enough say Palmerston North residents who woke up to find a 20 metre-high tower looming over their backyard this month. The Tremaine Ave tower, which backs on to Matamau St houses, is not operational.

Sonya Holm, whose son attends a nearby school, is calling for Telecom to keep it out of action until neighbours are consulted.

"They're really exploiting a loop hole by putting them in what are, in fact, residential areas. They're just technically zoned industrial," Ms Holm said. "They can do the right thing and do the proper consultation."

She is concerned with the number of towers which could pop up along Tremaine Ave without any public consultation. "If they can only confirm that one tower is safe, what does it mean if there's more than one in a given area?"

After contacting the council, Telecom and contractors, Ms Holm hasn't had a straight answer on who would be responsible if people suffer health problems caused by the tower.

Mr Lees-Galloway said one of his constituents would like Telecom to carry out the consultation process before the tower becomes operational.

In response, Telecom media relations executive Katherine Murphy said it does not wish to seek the approval of affected parties as it had complied with all district plans.

Telecom is prepared, said Mrs Murphy, to independently test the tower to confirm that it is not detrimental to people's health.

Mr Lees-Galloway said he is looking into the central government legislation that determines the local government district policies around cellphone towers.

Telecom expects to have the tower operating early next week.

CELLPHONE TOWER RESTRICTIONS

Building a cellphone tower in industrial and rural-zoned land is a permitted activity in Tararua, Horowhenua, Palmerston North and Manawatu.

If the telecommunication company can tick all the compliance boxes, nearby residents or affected people don't need to be consulted.

Cellphone towers lower than 15 metres in Tararua towns that complied with other rules could be built without consultation, environmental services manager Mike Brown said.

"If they want to build higher than 15m in a residential area they do need to deal with the resource consent process. What you have to do is [find out] who's likely to be affected and consult with them."

Erecting towers was also a permitted activity in industrial and rural zones if they were up to 20m high, he said. The distance a tower needed to be from a residential boundary was calculated by the height, Mr Brown said.

"Network utilities" were a permitted activity in Horowhenua's residential zones as long as they met the height, radio frequency levels and distance from boundary rules, environmental and regulatory services manager Tony Thomas said. But they could be up to 8.5m high only.

Towers could be built up to 15m high in industrial zones. Emission levels were governed by the national environment standards which superseded any rules in district plans that did not comply with the 2008 standards, Mr Thomas said.

Manawatu District Council's district plan states a cell phone tower can be no more than nine metres high, and boundaries between the zones are calculated by the maximum height.

Palmerston North City Council was looking at "telecommunication facilities" during the district plan review, with the aim of "balancing community aspects against infrastructural needs", head of planning services Russell O'Leary said. This topic was last reviewed in the mid-1990s.

TOWER HEIGHT

Palmerston North City Council height restrictions on cellphone towers:

* Inner Business Zone  - 20 metres

* Outer Business Zone  - 15 metres

* Local Business Zone -  10 metres

* Industrial Zones -  20 metres

* Airport Zone -  20 metres

* Institutional Zone -  18 metres

* Rural Zone -  15 metres

* Conservation and Amenity Zone - 5 metres

* All other zones and places -  10 metres

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