Coast to get mobile tower

By Bridget Brady
A MOBILE phone tower will be built in Blind Bight to improve reception in the area.
Casey council last week approved a planning permit for Optus to build a 33 metre-high tower on a rural site on Warneet Road outside the township of Blind Bight.
The tower will be 200 metres from the road. A spokesperson for Optus said the tower would enhance mobile and wireless broadband coverage in the area, giving greater choice and competition for residents in Blind Bight and Warneet.
The application included the installation of two radio communication dishes attached to the tower and three 2.63 metre-long panel antennas on top of the tower.
There are residential properties within a few hundred metres of the site and the council received three objections to the application, with reasons including the potential health impacts, visual impacts and loss of property values.
But Casey’s planning manager Duncan Turner in his report said council officers believed the location would not adversely affect the visual amenity of the area.
“There is no doubt that it will be visible from various points in the surrounding countryside. Although this section of the site is cleared … in most instances, only the top portion of the structure around five to 15 metres will be visible,” Mr Turner said. The fact that the tower and antennas would be visible was not a reason to refuse the application, Mr Turner said.
Additional planting of 3000 plant species for an area of 20 metres in width and 260 metres in length is recommended on the western boundary.