By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
THE REJECTION of objections to a mobile phone tower in Hamlyn Heights has set a precedent at Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Deputy president Mark Dwyer said VCAT rejected objections based on public health concerns about electro-magnetic radiation.
Mr Dwyer said raising the issue as part of a planning-based objection was a waste of time for the parties involved as well as VCAT.
The “red dot” decision set a precedent for other similar cases.
Mr Dwyer said public health concerns about electromagnetic radiation were often raised in planning cases about telecommunications facilities.
“However, it is not the role of VCAT to second-guess the expert authorities that regulate the area,” he ruled.
“The amount of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a telecommunications facility may well be a legitimate issue of public concern.
“However, VCAT is not a forum for addressing all issues of social or community concern, nor is it an investigative body.
“It cannot give great weight to unsupported assertions about public health concerns in the context of an individual planning application, particularly in relation to matters outside its own expertise or beyond the limited ambit of its statutory role or discretion in relation to that application.”
Mr Dwyer said Australian Communications and Media Authority set the regulatory standard under Commonwealth law, to which VCAT was bound to comply.
“Allowing objectors to continue to air their concerns about electromagnetic radiation at a VCAT hearing creates false expectations about the role of VCAT and the extent to which it can realistically deal with such issues. It follows that objectors should not raise the issue of electromagnetic radiation in VCAT proceedings about telecommunications facilities where the standard will be met.
“If they attempt to do so in their statements of grounds in the future, they can anticipate that the issue will be summarily dismissed without debate.”
A council development hearings panel decided in September to grant a planning permit for the Telstra phone tower at Hamlyn Park.
Public submissions to council about the proposal are open until 14 February.
