TweedNEWS decision on tower

TWEED Valley Adventist College parents send their kids to a school that offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free tuckshop options and today they will learn if their children might also be exposed to radiation.

Councillors will decide tonight if Optus can build a new 30m telecommunications tower within 300m of the school boundary.

The development application received 42 objections, 41 of which were in relation to the health affects of the tower on students from Tweed Valley Adventist College.

The council agenda for the meeting states the objections came from staff and parents at the Adventist College.

The proposed tower at Murwillumbah Golf Course would be 564m from the school’s nearest classroom.

It is also 506m from the nearest classroom at Wollumbin High School.

“(Optus) has submitted EME (electromagnetic energy) level predications at various distances within 500m of the proposed facilities, and to the nearest classrooms and/or school buildings at Tweed Valley Adventist College and Wollumbin High School,” the council report reads.

“These readings demonstrate that the maximum predicted level from the proposed facility will be 0.36 per cent of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Authority exposure limit and that the levels at the adjacent schools would range from 0.038-0.085 per cent.”

An Optus spokesman said: “All mobile phone networks must comply with regulations mandated by the Federal Government in relation to exposure to EME from mobile phone base stations.”