Disgruntled residents pack Charles Sturt chamber to air concerns over Grange bowling club phone tower

Residents have packed the public gallery at a western suburbs council meeting to oppose plans for a mobile phone tower at their local bowling club.

The Grange Bowling Club is the proposed site for a Telstra tower. Picture: Supplied

Residents have packed the public gallery at a western suburbs council meeting to oppose plans for a mobile phone tower at their local bowling club.

Five residents addressed this week’s Charles Sturt Council meeting, outlining their concerns over the Telstra phone tower planned for Grange Bowling Club, on Wilson Court.

“This is not about a bunch of Luddites saying we don’t want this – it’s about having common sense,” resident Haydyn Bromley told the meeting on Monday night.

“When you drive around, there are towers popping up everywhere, and there doesn’t seem to be any organised regimen around it.”

A protest sign against the Telstra tower proposed to be built at Grange. Picture: Supplied

Resident Sarah Downs said the proposal had caused a significant amount of anxiety in the community.

“We’re not anti-progress or ‘flat-earthers’,” she said.

“We’re pro-progress, but what’s happening in Grange is not progress – it’s not progress when people have their rights taken away.”

Another resident, Megan Harris, said locals were worried about potential health issues from electromagnetic radiation from phone towers.

“There has to be a better location and one more fitting of such a commercial structure,” she told the meeting.

Telstra’s SA regional general manager Mark Bolton said research had shown electromagnetic energy level from the tower would be “well below the maximum levels recommended by health experts”.

Mr Bolton said Telstra relied on the expert advice of international and national health authorities, including the World Health Organisation, and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, to guide them on safe electromagnetic energy limits.

The council was due to vote on a motion formally objecting to the construction of the phone tower.

But there were concerns that decision could interfere with the council’s development assessment panel, which would ultimately rule on the proposal.

Instead, it voted to acknowledge the residents’ concerns with mobile phone towers near homes, childcare centres and schools.

Elected members also asked for a report, to be presented to its May meeting, into a number of issues, including the loss of natural light arising from the size of telecommunication towers.