Seaside residents accuse council of bungling Optus tower plan
A 30m tall phone tower plan is not sitting well with residents of historic Robe, who now want a court to heal the “scar”.
SA News
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Robe residents have vowed to fight against a 30m Optus mobile phone tower they say will ruin the character of the historic town.
The tower will be the subject of an Environment, Resources and Development Court case next month, but has already been approved by the Robe District Council.
It will be located at the Robe Oval on O’Halloran St, adjacent the historic section of the town, but residents have argued it should be moved 100m further away from homes on the large site.
A residents’ group has been formed to fight the development, but there are fears that rapid approval by council has already led to expenses being incurred by Optus, such as laying fibre-optic cables for the project.
A Robe Concerned Citizens spokesman, who did not want to be named, said the move would have been simple and likely agreed to by Optus if the council had not acted so quickly.
“Now Optus has committed significant planning resources and progressed the application and has declined to participate in any mediation or conciliation process and has engaged a legal team to frustrate the local residents’ court hearing,’’ he said.
“This bungle was created by the local government but Singtel-Optus are about to scar our history and significantly diminish the town’s vista.
“Most of the historical township is heritage listed and has enormous national and international tourism value to local residents and the South Australian economy.
“We now have a 30m tower being built right between the football club and golf club open space.
“It’s obscene, it spoils the entire vista, and we only want it moved 100mto the side of the oval.”
Optus has been praised for pioneering in Australia the slimline design to be used in Robe, a so-called Huawei “TubeStar” base station, which operates on a footprint of just 2sqm compared to the 30-60sqm required for many base stations.
The design means the base station does not need a ground-level cabinet and equipment room.
Also arrays of electronic equipment are housed within its slim shaft rather than protruding.
Robe District Council and Optus have been contacted for comment.
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