THE NBN rollout in Orange has hit a roadblock with Orange City Council deferring a decision on a wireless broadband tower at Springside for the second time.
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Orange mayor John Davis described NBN Co as arrogant for not informing neighbours of the tower and said residents had lost confidence in the organisation after photomontages showing the tower’s location were found to be incorrect.
But the decision could land the council in a legal fight with NBN Co if it decides to pursue the development in the Land and Environment Court.
Although councillors have not formally knocked back the $170,000 tower, because NBN Co have been waiting for a decision from the council for several months it could be deemed a refusal, opening the door for court action.
The development was deferred by the council in October, after two residents Derek Davies and Phil Kerney, who objected to the tower’s location based on the visual impacts, questioned the accuracy of NBN Co’s photomontages showing the proposed location of the tower.
The photos were found to be incorrect.
On Tuesday, the council heard from several experts, including a surveyor and a photographer, engaged by Dr Davies to discredit the revised NBN Co photos.
A solicitor acting on Dr Davies’ behalf told the council his client was willing to pay for an independent telecommunications expert to prove the site chosen by NBN Co wasn’t the only option.
An expert speaking on NBN Co’s behalf, Mark Burns, said he knew of no councils that had refused wireless NBN towers.
“The ones that have been refused have gone to the Land and Environment Court and [NBN] has quickly won,” he said.
An NBN Co spokesman did not respond in time for publication.
Two councillors Russell Turner and Kevin Duffy attempted to approve the tower.
But several suggested an alternative location should be considered.
Cr Davis said councillors were in a very hard position, but the residents had lost confidence in NBN Co because the first photomontages were wrong.
“This decision should be that the tower goes up for the area, however I believe for the NBN there’s no policy,” he said.
“This council should be scathing [of NBN] because the information we got was not correct.”
He said suggestions the NBN connection for the area was under threat if the tower was relocated was “not the Australian way”.
But Cr Duffy said the NBN was of huge national significance and although he sympathised with the objectors, the tower should be approved.
Cr Neil Jones urged the councillors to refuse the tower on the grounds of visual impact to send a message to NBN Co.
“It is important development but there’s no reason it can’t be on another site,” he said.
“It’s disappointing NBN Co stopped after looking at three sites.”
Cr Reg Kidd agreed and questioned why the tower couldn’t be located on nearby state forest land.
