Leopold anger over phone antennas

Alex de Vos
LEOPOLD residents are angry over a plan to install three mobile phone antennas on top of a local church tower.
Resident Amanda Browne said Telstra was neglecting the community because it had informed just a handful of residents about its plans to install the transmitters on top of the Lumen Christi Catholic Church in Kensington Road.
Mrs Browne was also angered because residents were given three weeks to respond to the application.
“Hardly anyone has been notified of the towers and there’s a lack of public consultation,” she said.
“It effects residents living as far as 500 metres away, so a letter should have gone to everyone in the vicinity,” Mrs Browne said.
Telstra is proposing to install three antennas, about 2.7-metres tall, on top of the church’s bell tower.
An equipment cabinet would also be installed behind the church building.
The company sent a letter to residents about the plans on September 11, inviting submissions by September 28.
Telstra regarded the proposed installation as a “low-impact facility”.
“On the letter it said they started the project on March 30 and they waited until September to inform the residents, then we are given less than three weeks to object,” Mrs Browne said.
About 50 residents had signed a petition fighting the proposal and raising concerns about the long-term impact of radiation exposure from the facility.
“We would be exposed to the tower 24 hours, seven days a week and the tower affects people years down the track,”she said.
“The majority of people who signed the petition were unaware of the towers,” she said.
Telstra CountryWide spokesman Anthony Barnett said the company had distributed letters to 60 homes in Leopold.
"Dozens of letters have been sent out to surrounding areas," he said.
Mr Barnett said the company had followed a code of conduct in its consultation.