Year 5 student Tom Stephens isn’t a fan of Telstra’s plans to build a 25-metre mobile phone tower next to the car park at Wentworth Falls Country Club — so he is doing something about it.
The Blue Mountains Grammar School student penned a petition opposing the tower, encouraged people in his school to sign it last week and posted copies to the Blue Mountains mayor, local members of parliament and even the NSW Premier.
“I live about half a kilometre from where the tower could be and I’m very concerned about it, so I hope my petition goes well,” Tom said.
“My parents, a general practitioner and a naturopath, are also opposed to the tower on health grounds, but the petition was my idea and I wrote it.”
The petition states, “we, the below signed, don’t want a mobile phone tower built near where kids live or where schools and recreational facilities are because no-one can guarantee they are safe for our health.”
Because the tower’s height prevents it being defined as a low impact facility, Telstra was required to lodge a development application with council.
According to the application report there are some parts of northern Wentworth Falls where Telstra has little, if any, mobile phone coverage and the proposed tower with eight antennas would solve that problem and improve reception.
The report claims “other than residential premises, there are no land uses commonly considered to be community sensitive locations such as schools in the immediate vicinity”.
Wentworth Falls Country Club manager Matt Lark told the Gazette he is aware some residents oppose the proposal and acknowledges the club will benefit financially from it, but “the board investigated it pretty thoroughly after being approached by Telstra and is comfortable with its decision”.
“We were informed the estimated electromagnetic radiation maximum output from the tower is 0.41 per cent of the permissible total considered to be safe under the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency,” Mr Lark said.
“It (the tower) is tall but will be screened by trees.”
Meanwhile, Wentworth Falls resident Patrick Neal said he was alarmed to find a leaflet in his letterbox urging people to contact councillors to oppose the tower on the basis it would cause major health risks.
On the back were references to scientific studies, but only ones that found radiation from mobile phone towers increased the risk of illness or disease.
“The author of this leaflet should at least have the guts to identify themselves and their credentials,” Mr Neal said.
“We need better phone reception, particularly for emergencies like bushfires and people getting lost — that could save lives.”
The development application remains on public exhibition at council until Friday, August 27 and will then be determined by council.
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