More planting around tower
3 November 2015
More trees and foliage will be planted around the boundaries of Taylor's Hill water tower to help screen telecommunications equipment.
The tower is already screened by a mix of trees and shrubs. But Waipa District Council has agreed to further planting following a petition signed by 223 people.
Petitioners want the council to limit use of the water towers on Greenhill Drive for telecommunication equipment which provides cell phone services to users in the Te Awamutu area.
Staff advised councillors last week that the council has legally binding contracts with Vodafone until 2019 and Two Degrees until 2037 which means the cell phone antennas must stay. The facilities comply with national environmental standards and all emission requirements.
Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest said he appreciated that some people had concerns about cell phone antennas but noted those concerns were not shared by everyone.
The reality is that if people want to be able to use cell phones at home and in their businesses, this equipment has to go somewhere or our towns will wallow in the dark ages. No-one is going to thank us for that, he said.
If we allow the equipment to go onto council land, then at least as landowners we can do things like plant trees to screen them visually. Private landowners who allow them on their property - as they have a right to do - have no obligation to do anything.
By law, telecommunications companies have a legal right to put equipment on road corridors, provided certain conditions are met.
Those conditions are being met and the reality is there's not much we can do even if we wanted to. Vodafone or Two Degrees could, if they wanted, move them onto the road reserve in which case we couldn't do anything about it.
Media enquiries,
Contact Jeanette Tyrrell (on behalf of council)
027 5077 599