By Natalee Kerr
A controversially proposed 33-metre mobile phone tower on the Bellarine Peninsula has won approval at the state’s planning tribunal.
Developers can begin constructing the Optus network telecommunications facility adjacent to Old St Leonards Road after Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) ruled against objectors.
Residents had appealed to VCAT against Geelong council’s earlier decision to approve the project.
A 65-hectare farming property earmarked to host the tower had some protected vegetation and was used for cattle grazing, the tribunal heard.
Residents had urged councillors to refuse the proposal amid concerns the facility would be “visually intrusive” and have “adverse environmental impacts”.
They described the proposal as “another nail in the proverbial coffin” of the area’s “iconic” landscape”.
“(It) fails to protect and enhance the area’s long-recognised visual and environmental attributes,” VCAT heard.
Bellarine Community Council’s Tom O’Connor, a former City of Greater Geelong councillor, questioned the number of mobile towers needed to service the area.
“If you look at the number of mobile towers along the coastline and the inland it’s concerning,” he said.
“There are 55,000 people on the Bellarine. How many more towers do we need?”
VCAT member Mary-Anne Taranto said the tower would “not be invisible” but deemed its visual impact as acceptable.
The permit for the tower requires construction work to start within two years.
