Pottsville residents demand phone tower approval, Tweed petition racks up 1300 signatures
Residents of a Tweed town have called on authorities to tick off a new phone tower after “horror stories” of heart attack victims unable to call triple-0 emerged. But the mayor says council is doing its best.
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Pottsville residents have called on Tweed council to green light a new phone tower after “horror stories” of heart attack victims with no reception for triple-0 calls and businesses unable to take payments.
But Tweed Shire Council Mayor Chris Cherry said the council is doing all it can to assist.
Tweed Labor councillor and former mayor Reece Byrnes has launched a petition ventilating community frustration over “dropped calls”, as well as “unreliable internet” and “limited access to vital emergency services” due to reception issues.
The petition on the issue – raised at an October meeting – has racked up more than 1300 signatures. Pottsville only has a population of about 8600, according to the latest Census.
Cr Byrnes said: “There were some truly genuine horror stories of what people have experienced.”
“Whether that was breaking down in the middle of the night, they haven’t been able to call parents, or people have elderly parents at home who have had heart attacks that could not call out to triple-0.”
Cr Byrnes said businesses were struggling to operate eftpos machines in an increasingly cashless society.
“(It’s) affecting real people, their lives and their livelihoods, their abilities to run their businesses in town,” he said.
The council voted to knock back the Pottsville R tower that would host Optus and Telstra equipment at the June council meeting because the project was not compliant with planning laws.
However, Cr Byrnes states online he is “calling on the Mayor Chris Cherry, Cr Meredith Dennis, Cr Nola Firth (Greens), Cr Warren Polglase (Nationals), Cr Rhi Brinsmead (Liberal) and Cr James Owen (Liberal) to approve the Pottsville Phone Tower”.
“Call them (if you can) or email them – We have to get this petition up!” he wrote.
The proposed site was within 50 metres of a sensitive ecological site and developers cannot build within the buffer zone.
An exemption application did not come alongside the initial proposal, so the council had to knock back the project.
The petition demanding approval for the tower was accepted by councillors, but the solution to the ongoing saga of bad reception in Pottsville is yet to be hashed out.
Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said the council recognised an “urgent need” for improved telecommunications in Pottsville and surrounds.
“This has been a known issue from the telcos’ perspective for the last 15 years, so we are very happy they seem to be ready to commit to servicing our community,” she said.
“To this end, we have met with the telcos’ representatives a number of times in the past few months to help them locate an appropriate site.
“Unfortunately, there are few privately-owned sites to choose from.
“In order to permit the tower to be built at that location there are necessary ecological studies that need to be submitted, so hopefully they will be submitted this time.”
Following the petition, another application has been submitted proposing alternate sites.
An extraordinary council meeting will be called on November 30 and the application must be determined before December 7.
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