2020-02-11 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                       11 FEBRUARY 2020


Location and Siting
The Infrastructure Uses Code seeks to ensure that infrastructure does not detract from the visual
amenity of the major road network, rural and residential amenity and protects the natural character
and environmental values from adverse impacts. An overall outcome of the code is to seek co-
location of facilities where appropriate and practical.
An existing telecommunications tower at 265 Tablelands Road, Cooran is located approximately
100 metres south-west of the subject site and accommodates equipment from Telstra, Vodafone
and GWN. Figure 6 illustrates the proximity of the proposed tower and existing tower locations.




                   Figure 6 – Proposed tower location in relation to existing Telstra tower

The applicant submits alternative sites were explored prior to finalising the selected site for the
facility. Consideration for site selection is reported to include radio frequency efficiency, planning,
property and engineering requirements as well as anticipated local community concerns. The
viability of co-locating with the existing tower has been dismissed by the applicant due to the
following factors:
    The existing Telstra tower is at a lower elevation compared to the proposed facility, being up
      to 15 metres below the subject site;
    The existing Telstra tower has already been extended by 5 metres in the past to currently
      have a monopole height of 30 metres.
    Due to the existing Telstra, Vodaphone and GWN equipment on the existing Telstra tower,
      co-location of the NBN service would mean that the maximum available height of the NBN
      antennae equipment would be 20m above ground level. At this height, NBN maintain that a
      good reliable service would not be able to be provided to the targeted premises;
    Further extension of the existing Telstra tower would require a stronger, possibly lattice tower
      structure, to be constructed to accommodate all of the services. The applicant maintains that
      the lattice tower is more obtrusive in the landscape and would need to be 50m high.



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