I read Alan Waller’s comments against residents complainingabout a cellphone tower going up in Titahi Bay. We’re not against cellphone masts going up, but do oppose their placement near homes and schools. Cellphone masts emit electromagnetic radiation (EMR), but the amount dissipates the further out you go. In fact, according to the Telecom emissions report for the Titahi Bay cellphone mast, there are no emissions beyond 400 metres. Why then, would they place a Telecom cellphone tower as close as 30-40m to homes? Legitimate concerns are being raised worldwide about EMR’s links to cancer, cardiac, reproductive and neurological diseases. Until EMR can be unequivocally proven to be safe, why don’t the telcos do the right thing and stop installing them within 400m of homes and schools? HELEN M BENNETT Titahi Bay
Howick residents have wound up their attack on Manukau City Council over rules for development in Heritage Zone 7. Last week, The Aucklander reported residents’ concerns over a loophole in the district plan that allows for a 15-unit home for the aged to be built on a property that now has just one house. In strongly worded letters to the editor this week, residents claim the council has one law for locals and another for itself. They complain the council permits cellphone towers far taller than the height restriction in the zone, destroying views. And they claim that the council receives payment for these towers. We put the allegation to the council but it was unable to respond. A communication spokesperson says she’s not sure how much money changes hands, if any. The spokeswoman couldn’t verify if the money is a development levy or is for some other building cost. We could not contact the telecommunications company.
The sites of five more Telecom cellphone towers approved by Porirua City Council have been revealed by a disgruntled councillor.
Construction of a tower at the Tireti Rd telephone exchange in Titahi Bay ? within 20 metres of houses ? was halted after local protest.
The five other towers will be built next to the Freedom Church in Cannons Creek, at 1 Broken Hill Rd, in Kenepuru Drive near Wall Place, next to the Waitangirua police station in Warspite Ave, and on Colonial Knob ? a hill west of Porirua City.
Porirua city councillor Robert Shaw said it was unacceptable that Telecom had belatedly consulted Titahi Bay residents but kept the other locations to itself.
"This puts stress and tension into the community. It creates a landscape nobody wants."
At an open day held by Telecom- owned infrastructure company Chorus in Titahi Bay last week, its chief executive Mark Ratcliffe said the towers were among 300 being built throughout New Zealand to "fill gaps in the network". He refused to say where the other Porirua towers would be.
Mr Shaw said local councils, including his own, should protect residents from cellphone towers by changing the rules in their district plans.
Telecom has applied for resource consent for two more towers. One is to be built in the hills above Rawhiti Rd, Pukerua Bay. The other is already at the corner of Moonshine Rd and State Highway 58, and is to be upgraded.
Nelson environmental lawyer and scientist Sue Grey founded residents’ group Ban the Tower after Telecom tried to build one next to a local playcentre.
She said Telecom had agreed to stop work till the middle of next year and, as in Titahi Bay last week, had wheeled out David Black to tell people "this is not radiation, this is safe".
She said Dr Black’s claim that cellphone towers emitted safe levels of radio frequencies rather than electromagnetic fields was wrong.
"He’s the only expert in the world who thinks that. It is completely contrary to the latest international research."
It was now believed there was a "latent period" of 10 to 20 years after exposure before symptoms appeared, she said.
". . . short-term studies didn’t show any effects but now increasing numbers of tumours are showing up."
Unknown to its residents, the Porirua Council gave Telecom the go-ahead for six cell towers.
There are also two further approvals pending.
Councillor Robert Shaw said he was appalled that the public has not been told about all the towers.
"Five approvals only came to light when I asked about other sites because of the public outrage about the Titahi Bay proposal"
"Telecom put the Titahi Bay tower on hold because of public opposition, but they did not tell the public about the other towers".
The sites approved are: Tithai Bay; Bedford Street next to the Freedom Church; Waitangirua, adjacent to the shops; Broken Hill Road; Kenepuru Drive; and Colonial Knob.
Resource consents applied for are a new towers in Pukerua Bay above Rawhiti Road and at Moonshine Road.
Cr Shaw said Telecom’s plans for the whole city need to be considered together.
"It is vital that our Council establishes rules in its District Plan to manage the serious conflicts that now appear between telecommunications companies and residents."
The whole purpose of local government is to resolve such issues in neighbourhoods, Cr Shaw added.
It wouldn’t be a great feeling to be living in a neighbourhood and you go to bed one night and all is well. And then you wake up the next morning and there’s the unsightly image of a 22 metre cellphone tower right outside your window. If you don’t think that could happen, think again. Around the country, cellphone companies are erecting these towers, it appears, without proper consultation with nearby residents. The issue’s come to light again this week, with a group from Nelson coming to Parliament to voice their worries at a Telecom tower planned for the suburb of Atawhai. The tower was due to go up this year, but the company has now begun to listen to residents and has postponed it until next year. What makes this case particularly interesting, is that the way residents found out the tower was going to be erected, is when one happened to look out the window and see a man climbing on a roof - that was when the questions began. The tower in this case is planned for construction right next door to the Atawhai Playcentre - in fact, it will go up just five metres from the playcentre’s sandpit. Parents, naturally, are worried at the health risks associated with children being so close to the whatever is transmitted from these towers. And that’s the question - what exactly do these towers emit? While it may improve cellphone coverage, there are also real difficulties in knowing what effect they are having on residents. The Nelson group, quite rightly, is asking the Prime Minister to take some action and ban cellphone towers going up within a thousand metres of a school or playcentre. The group claims the health risks to children is much greater than to adults, although scientific research has yet to determine what the risks are. The Nelson group is just one community in New Zealand facing this situation. The staff at the playcentre think they’ll have to close down if the tower goes up, because parents would send their children somewhere else. They have the support of National Nelson MP Nick Smith and Labour’s candidate Maryan Street, as well as Green MP Sue Kedgley. They are all giving an assurance Parliament will investigate the placement of cellphone towers, the health risks associated and also the lack of consultation with those affected by it.
And, I believe, the investigation can’t come soon enough.
By SALLY KIDSON - Nelson | Saturday, 23 August 2008
Tower fears to be aired
Nelson’s anti-cellphone tower campaigners will address a parliamentary select committee next month, as the fight against the towers heats up nationally.
Ban the Tower spokeswoman Sue Grey said the local government and environment select committee had invited the group to make a submission as a result of its 3000-signature petition asking for a ban on towers near schools and houses.
The group took on Telecom this year and succeeded in getting the corporate giant to delay erecting a cellphone tower next to the Atawhai Playcentre until late 2009.
Miss Grey said she and others had done a lot of research on cellphones and cellphone towers, and they remained concerned about the possible health risk from electro-magnetic radiation.
The group was also concerned that legislation now before Parliament would allow telecommunication companies to erect phone masts beside any public road without having to consult the public.
The communications firms plan to put up thousands of transmitters as they roll out their new 3G technology.
Miss Grey said the group wanted the Government to adopt World Health Organisation standards on consultation for new cellphone towers. These required full consultation with communities, and community support before new towers could be erected.
"The Resource Management Act requires people to be involved in the decision-making process and we don’t see why cellphone towers should be exempt from that."
The group also wanted the Government to adopt stricter standards for cellphone tower emissions in line with the best international standards.
"What we are looking for is that New Zealand is international best-practice, instead of international worst-practice."
Miss Grey said many countries took a far more precautionary approach to cellphone towers and mobile phones than New Zealand did.
Cellphones in Israel carried a mandatory warning that they were dangerous, she said.
The French government had issued a warning that children shouldn’t use mobile phones except in emergencies.
Miss Grey said the Ban the Tower group had been contacted by groups from New Plymouth, Papatoetoe in Auckland and Titahi Bay in Wellington that were also fighting the erection of towers in their communities.
MATT CALMAN - The Dominion Post | Friday, 22 August 2008
Plan to build tower in safe zone angers
A couple who bought a Titahi Bay home to avoid cellphone towers and power lines are dismayed that a tower is being built across the road. View video
Vicki Webb and Nigel Stephens, who have three young children, have asked Telecom for a written guarantee that cellphone towers are safe.
If the tower is built - and work has already begun - the couple say they will move. "We have a young family ... and we are not convinced it’s worth the risk," Ms Webb said.
The family were among more than 200 residents who attended a Telecom open day yesterday to protest against a tower proposed for the company’s Tireti Rd exchange.
Local opposition led Telecom- owned company Chorus to stop work on the tower a fortnight ago. Telecom said yesterday the tower was safe and residents had nothing to fear.
Ms Webb said Telecom would only sign a guarantee that the tower met the New Zealand standard.
"They would if they were confident enough in the technology that there were no adverse effects. But they won’t sign it."
The tower is one of 300 to be built by Telecom to fill gaps in its network.
Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe conceded communication with residents in Tireti Rd had been "woeful" but was satisfied the technology was safe. "There is a massive amount of information. Most of it concludes ... that there are no impacts whatsoever. There are some people with opinions that are contrary."
Telecom flew Auckland Medical School senior lecturer David Black to Wellington to talk to Tireti Rd residents. He said cellphone towers emitted "safe" low-level radio frequencies rather than electromagnetic fields, like power pylons. The towers cause exposure of only "a few per cent" of the New Zealand standard.
In Nelson, residents formed Ban the Towers and produced a "community movie", Dear Helen Clark, after discovering Telecom planned to build a tower next to a playcentre.
This video letter was produced by Nelson residents and sent to Prime Minister Helen Clark after Telecom tried to build a 22-metre tower next to a local playcentre.
Titahi Bay residents fuming over Telecom plans for cellphone tower Thu, 21 Aug 2008 6:16p.m.
Titahi Bay in Porirua is the latest community to rise up in protest at Telecom’s expansion of its 3G cellphone network.
Residents are rallying tonight, complaining that Telecom and their local council have run roughshod over their rights by building a tall tower right in the middle of their main street.
Local resident Vicky Webb has two children under three and does her best to keep them from exposure to microwaves and radiation. She bought her Titahi Bay home because it does not have any overhead wires.
"We don’t use cordless phones, we don’t have wireless broadband, or a microwave and then Telecom just come along and dumps a tower right outside our house," Ms Webb says.
Ms Webb received a letter on the first of August from Telecom, informing her that the 12 metre high tower would be erected. However, she and her family were away on holiday and by the time she got back, construction of the 3G cell phone tower had begun.
After strong opposition, Telecom delayed the construction of the Titahi Bay tower and today held a public meeting which residents marched to in protest.
"We understand that people have to have cellphones," Ms Webb says. "But when the exposure levels drop off so quickly within 400 metres, why slap a tower in the middle of a community with children on every side?"
Telecom says it would not get the same coverage if it was too far away from houses.
"There are always plenty of other places, but they would be a different location probably with other houses close by," Telecom’s Mark Ratcliffe says. "It just happens that this was a good Telecom site."
Telecom has a thousand cellphone towers nationwide which are being upgraded to 3G. It is erecting 300 others like the one planned for Titahi Bay.
Telecom will decide in the next few weeks if it will go ahead building the tower at this location. If Telecom decides to do so, there will be nothing residents can do to stop it.
Hopes of improved cellphone coverage at Lake Hood are fading despite a planned upgrade to an existing Telecom tower in Tinwald. Telecom’s plans to upgrade a tower on McMurdo Street will only improve the reception needed to tune into the company’s new Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) network, spokesperson Ian Bonnar said. ?Our current focus is on matching the extensive coverage offered by the current network, which will mean the new mobile network will cover 97 per cent of where New Zealanders work and live, and it will also offer mobile broadband in the three main centres at launch.? Towers already built on Isleworth Road, Hinds, the corner of Line Road and Dolma Street, Methven, Withells Road, Ealing, Lower Downs Road, Anama, and Wills Street, Ashburton will also be upgraded to the WCDMA network by November. A call was made between Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds and Auckland University student Michael Moka this week, the first successful live test of the network. Dr Reynolds said the network would benefit both consumers and businesses. ?Simple improvements can be powerful, like enhanced text messaging, faster mobile broadband and the introduction of a new service to New Zealand that makes websites look great on mobile.? The new mobile network will also deliver future capabilities that have not yet been seen in New Zealand. ?Customers will benefit from the strengths of both mobile network technologies and will be able to choose the devices and services that best suit their needs, without having to worry about what underlying technology platform it’s delivered by,? Dr Reynolds said. But not everyone who will benefit from the network has welcomed it with open arms. Members of the Atawhai community in Nelson are prepared to fight Telecom over its intention to erect a 22-metre -high cellphone tower in the district, for fear it will put people’s health at risk. However, a number of scientific studies show there is no substantiated evidence that the radio frequency exposed from the towers cause harm. June 14 2008
GREER MCDONALD - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Nine more cellphone towers planned
Titahi Bay residents fighting against a planned cellphone tower in the neighbourhood have been told there are plans to build nine more in the Porirua area.
Porirua City Council chief executive Roger Blakeley told a gathering of 60 residents on Monday about the plans after a private meeting with Telecom representatives before the public meeting.
Residents had invited Telecom to a meeting after the company erected the base for a tower in Tireti Rd last week ? before notification letters of the construction had reached nearby residents.
The council issued a certificate of compliance for the tower in December and, because it complied with the council’s district plan, it did not require resource consent.
Helen Bennett, whose home is less than 40 metres from the planned tower site, said Telecom’s no-show at the public meeting was a "slap in the face".
She was thankful that Dr Blakeley turned up, but said he "braved much of the flak" that would have otherwise been directed at Telecom.
He had met Telecom representatives before the public meeting and told residents there were plans to build nine more cellphone tower sites in Porirua.
"People now more than ever think that they [Telecom] are being defensive, secretive and not taking accountability," Ms Bennett said. "They didn’t even bother to turn up. It’s an insult."
One of the main concerns residents had was that Telecom had not provided scientific evidence that the cellphone towers were safe, Ms Bennett said.
Failure to give any information upfront had made people fearful. "I feel sick that there could be a tower so close."
The other concern was for homes within 500 metres of the cellphone tower site, which research had shown could cost home owners more than $100,000 in lost value.
Ms Bennett said residents had accepted yesterday an invitation from Telecom for an open day on August 21, so they could discuss their concerns.
Work has begun on a cellphone tower in Titahi Bay, leaving residents distraught and angry about what they say is lack of consultation.
The base for the tower has been built at Telecom’s Titahi Bay Telephone Exchange on Tireti Rd.
Telecom notified a few residents about the tower but by the time letters arrived on Tuesday construction had already begun. The letter read: "Telecom is now notifying you and other adjoining properties prior to building these sites."
Residents said yesterday their biggest concern was the safety of their children. Others spoke of the impact on their property prices.
Robyn Fountain, who lives opposite the site, wrote to Telecom expressing her fears. "I have three young children and am extremely concerned that we will now be living within 25 metres of the new tower. I don’t want their lives shortened because of this tower."
Residents’ spokeswoman Victoria Jakobs said two years ago Vodafone consulted residents over proposed cellphone sites and they expected Telecom to do the same. "It’s an issue of social responsibility. It’s a cynical tactic of notifying as few people as possible [before they] whip it in. We know we have to move fast because if it’s up it’s too late."
Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds replied to Ms Jakobs by e-mail: "We want to engage with the communities we serve and I do recognise that, even with the best intentions, we don’t always get it right. Your feedback will be taken very seriously."
Mr Reynolds has asked Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe to lead a review of the situation. Chorus is a Telecom-owned firm in charge of building the tower.
Porirua City Council issued a certificate of compliance for the tower in December. Because it complied with the city’s district plan it did not need resource consent.
Council chief executive Roger Blakeley said council had asked Telecom to consult the public and was disappointed locals found out so late.
"We couldn’t require that of them legally but we certainly advised them to do that."
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Work has begun on a cellphone tower in Titahi Bay, leaving residents distraught and angry about what they say is lack of consultation.
