Resident angry at 14m tower plan
A Cooper’s Beach resident says there was no opportunity for people to object to a 5m roadside pole.
The offending pole, right alongside SH10, almost opposite the Cable Bay Block Rd intersection, is a 5G Network (Spark) tower.
As a temporary structure it did not require a resource consent, and neither will the permanent tower, which could be as high as 14m, which is intended to be erected further back from the highway.
“No one, including the business owners in the immediate area, were consulted, but plenty of us intend to object to the permanent one,” a nearby resident, who did not wish to be named, said last week.
“I am outraged. The immediate Cooper’s Beach community, or any community for that matter, doesn’t need this sort of rubbish in what is a residential area, and immediately adjacent to school bus stops.
“If you look at maps of cellphone towers in our general region they are well removed from residential areas.”
He suspected the plan to build the permanent tower was a calculated move to push a resource consent through over the Christmas-New Year holiday period, when many people who might otherwise object would be on holiday.
The Far North District Council’s general manager district services, Dean Myburgh, said all telecommunications were controlled The 5g Network tower at Cooper’s Beach will soon make way for a taller one nearby — and locals don’t want a bar of it.
by National Environmental Standards and the Resource Management Act. Any facility, such as a cell tower, that met National Environmental Standards did not need to go through the resource consent process, or be publicly notified. They did need a Code of Compliance certificate from the council to confirm they met the standards.
“A resource consent may be
required if the facility includes components or work not covered by the National Environmental Standards,” Dr Myburgh said.
“For example, construction may include the clearing of bush or the addition of extra equipment, perhaps solar panels as a power supply. This part of construction may fall under district plan rules and require a
resource consent.”
He advised Cooper’s Beach residents who wanted to explore alternative options for the proposed tower site to contact the Rural Connectivity Group, the infrastructure provider in charge of extending mobile and wireless broadband coverage to rural New Zealand under the Rural Broadband Initiative 2 and the Mobile Black Spot fund.