A new mobile phone tower has been approved for Point Cook.
Wyndham council has given the green light for Vodafone to remove an existing 30-metre-tall light pole at Featherbrook Reserve on Windorah Drive and replace it with a 35-metre communications tower.
Vodafone claims the tower will improve mobile phone reception in the area.
An equipment shelter will be built next to the phone tower, which will also carry lighting.
The council has leased out the site to Vodafone for 20 years at a rate of $18,000 a year, plus GST, with a four per cent annual increase.
Cr Bob Fairclough said he under- stood there was community concern over the location of phone towers, particularly those near homes, but that was the reality of modern life.
“Many people now rely on mobile phones and are discontinuing landlines,” he said.
“These sites have been selected pretty carefully to address the black spots in communication in these areas.”
Intaj Khan and Gautam Gupta were the only councillors to vote against the phone tower.
Cr Khan argued that phone towers should be located on commercial buildings or private land instead of public open space.
