In view of the fact that 2 Degrees has recently been granted resource consent to build a cellphone tower 10 metres from my boundary fence and 20 metres from my bedroom I have researched what protection citizens have in these situations and have found there is very little. On going to the Ministry of the Environments website and searching the National Emissions Standard I find comments that read like they have been written by the Cellphone Companies e.g. 'There are 73 city and district councils in NZ. All have different rules in their district plans affecting what can be built as of right, and what requires resource consent. For Telecommunication companies wanting to provide services across more than one district, dealing with this multitude of rules means uncertainty, time delays, and increased costs”
The end result is that Cellphone companies can build Cellphone towers where ever they want without having to consult the communities that live in the area. In fact for the cellphone tower at 126 Grange Road, in Tauranga, the minimum safe distance is 5.0 metres i.e. they could have built it within 5.0 metres of our homes (perhaps on a lamppost) without consultation.
There is ongoing debate about the safety of living near cellphone towers (and indeed the using of cellphone themselves). In view of the concern of residents, cellphone companies have usually built their towers at some distance from residential areas e.g. industrial sites. 2 Degrees, by building towers at the Ngati Road and Grange Road sites in Tauranga, in residential areas, have broken an unwritten contract between it and the community it wishes to make money from.
Peter Trass, Otumoetai.