By Alesha Capone
A mobile phone tower will be constructed at Saltwater Reserve in Point Cook, despite Wyndham council receiving 110 objections to the proposal.
The council last week approved a decision to allow the Vodafone Network to lease part of the reserve for a term of 20 years, for $24,000 per year, which will increase four per cent annually.
Vodafone will lease 39 square metres of the reserve land, and install a 24-metre high phone tower and associated equipment at the site.
During a public consultation period earlier this year the council received 110 objections from residents and land owners near the proposed tower.
However, a council report stated that when the council held a town planning forum on the matter in June and invited all objectors to participate, only two people attended.
The council report stated that the ground level equipment required for the phone tower “will take up a small footprint and will not impact on the use of Saltwater Reserve as a sporting park precinct”.
The report also stated: “Vodafone advised this area of Point Cook is a telecommunications blackspot and after considering and examining several alternative locations, have indicated the [Saltwater Reserve] land as the preferred location.”
