By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A Geelong council decision to knock back a mobile phone tower in Western Cemetery is headed for the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Telstra area general manager Duane Dalton said the decision to refuse a planning permit for a mobile base station in Herne Hill was disappointing.
“The tower was planned in response to continuing growth and demand in the area,” Mr Dalton said.
“Telstra conducted extensive consultation with concerned local residents and parties and has made every effort to mitigate any impacts that may have arisen from the presence of the tower.
“As we believe this particular location is the most suitable in the area to provide coverage to the most number of people, we will be pursuing the matter through VCAT.”
Councillors rejected Telstra’s proposed tower on heritage grounds.
A council planning meeting last week decided the phone tower would have “an unacceptable impact on the heritage values of the Western Cemetery as a result of its visual impact”.
The panel of councillors decided the tower was not sited or designed to be sensitive to the cemetery.
“The telecommunications facility will have an unreasonable visual impact on the surrounding area when viewed from private and public land,” the panel decided.
Help Herne Hill community group’s Jonathan Connor said residents and people with family buried in the cemetery had made impassioned objections to the plan.
The Indy reported in September that residents planned to topple the tower application after Geelong Cemeteries Trust signed an agreement with Telstra to lease a section of the Western Cemetery to install a 37.5m pole at the rear of the graveyard.
Mr Connor said residents wanted the council to negotiate with Telstra to find an alternative location away from Herne Hill.
