Perth Voice Interactive

OPPONENTS of a phone tower being installed at Britannia Reserve suspect consultation was a sham after noticing trees next to the site were stripped of their branches even before Vincent council approved the project. 

In June councillors voted to lease out part of the park to Optus, charging $48,000 a year for 140sqm of space for the 38m tower, which would also host Telstra and Vodafone antennas. 

A petition against the plan with 28 signatures had earlier been submitted, along with 22 individual submissions opposing the location. Eight submissions were supportive, largely based on Mount Hawthorn suffering poor mobile coverage, and concerns a location being used temporarily on Lynton Street is closer to houses. 

Lead petitioner Norelle O’Neill says the project felt like a fait accompli. 

Before the council voted on the item, she noticed the two nearest trees surrounding the proposed site had suffered “excessive lopping of limbs down one side only” – the side facing the tower site.

In a series of written questions Ms O’Neill pointed out “given the area has been incorrectly deemed by the City as ‘under-utilised’ the tree would not have been lopped for safety reasons but presumably for plans for the tower”.

She asked if the pruning had been done as a result of discussions with Optus or their contractor Indara.

Vincent’s response stated only that: “The trees surrounding the proposed lease area have been pruned by the City as part of the City’s ongoing maintenance operations”.

But we scouted out the site and could not find any other trees pruned so severely down one side. 

And delving into old plans submitted to the council in January, we found Optus’s draft site plans called for “trimming of existing trees” and “clearing [of] proposed installation area”, even drawing a line pointing to one of the denuded trees.

It seemed like a pretty big coincidence that they’d be stripped right where the compound would go, and down only one side, and just how the tower plans had proposed. We asked Vincent council whether the tower plans had any influence and are awaiting a response.

After receiving Vincent’s initial answer about ongoing “maintenance”, Ms O’Neille tells us: “I suspect the tree was damaged, at ratepayers expense, to accommodate the plans for the telecommunications tower weeks before the community consultation period even opened.”

Vincent council’s decision is still subject to the WA Planning Commission approving the plan. Given the fenced compound will take up 140sqm of park, the council decided to earmark the rental income for spending on other public open space projects.

Acting CEO John Corbellini told the Voice, “The City met with Indara and Optus at Britannia Reserve in late 2022 in an effort to find the best possible location for their proposed Telecommunications Tower.

“At that site meeting, City officers noted that around the Britannia Reserve bike pump track there was a dead tree and a need for many of the larger trees in the area to be pruned.

“Given the site is not highly visible, it had been a number of years since the trees in this area had been serviced.

“City officers then carried out removal of the dead tree and pruning of the large trees in the area, including over and around the bike pump track and along the boundary of the Floreat Athena leased area.”

by DAVID BELL