"Common sense has prevailed" as a phone tower initially proposed near a residential area at Gateshead is now set to be built on an electrical substation site.
Lake Macquarie Council on Monday night approved the 29-metre Optus phone tower for the Ausgrid owned site at 20 Oakdale Road. It will accommodate 4G and 5G systems to improve service to Bennetts Green, Gateshead, south of Charlestown, south west of Whitebridge and surrounding areas.
The tower was approved in 2017 to be built on Bulls Garden Road in Gateshead despite vehement opposition from nearby residents, but council staff said the applicant had surrendered that consent.
Staff also said this new site wasn't available when the first application was lodged.
"This is a relocation of a telephone tower that was proposed to be put within 50 metres of houses," councillor Barney Langford said. "Common sense has prevailed.
"The people who live in subdivision next to where it was proposed are much happier and this is a much better outcome for the community as a whole."
Councillor Colin Grigg said it was "justification for those of us who had been pooh-poohed for wanting to see these facilities change location".
Councillor John Gilbert said it was a "good news story relating to phone towers we don't see very often".
"I still maintain that these towers will in the next few decades... probably become the asbestos of tomorrow," he said.
