Better screening of existing telecommunications towers and avoidance of silhouetted towers on major view corridors are likely to be the result of bringing telecommunications structures within planning laws, according to Planning Minister Bill Wood.
Mr Wood said after a meeting yesterday with the National Capital Planning Authority and senior representatives of Telecom, Optus and Vodafone (the three mobile phone carriers); “”I’m sure we can achieve the companies’ objectives and at the same time respect the unique landscape character of Canberra’s hills.”
Mr Wood said a plan was better than the ad-hoc arrangements elsewhere in Australia.
About 34 telecommunications towers are planned by the three carriers for Canberra. Federal law makes the carriers exempt from state and territory planning, environment and heritage procedures and it was thought that they could build their towers wherever they wanted in Australia.
However, planning law has a federal-law element and the exemption does not apply. The National Capital Plan requires a separate plan for any extension to telecommunications facilities in Canberra. That will require community consultation and the possibility of ministerial or parliamentary disallowance.
It now seems likely that the telecommunications plan will cover the whole of the ACT, not just the national elements like the Triangle and the vacant hills. It also seems likely that the states and local governments will now press for planning control of telecommunications towers, saying that if it is good enough for the ACT, it is good enough for everywhere else.
A related telecommunications issue, satellite dishes on residences, is also causing planning heat in Sydney. Most councils are insisting on strict controls on ugly dishes.