PLANS for a 35-metre telecommunications tower in Merricks North will go ahead, replacing an existing nearby Telstra tower. The new tower proposed by Amplitel Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Telstra Group, will be installed at 304 Myers Rd, at the intersection of Tubbarubba Rd in Merricks North. Once built, the tower, which will be as tall as a 12-storey building, will continue 4G services and the provision of future 5G access.
Councillors ticked off the planning permit application for the tower at their 8 April meeting. Telstra is set to decommission and remove an existing 35-metre mobile phone and data tower at 29 Tubbarubba Rd in Merricks North, which currently services the Merricks North and surrounding locality. The tenure of the existing facility is about to expire with Telstra needing to relocate the site to maintain mobile coverage and capacity in the Merricks North area.
The new proposed tower, which is set to be located about 400 metres south of the existing tower, will feature six new panel antennas less than 2.8 metres in length. However, one tree will need to be removed. The planning application was advertised with notice also given to adjoining properties and a sign erected on site for 14 days. Only one objection was received.
According to a shire report, the proposal “is considered to meet the community’s needs, while protecting the amenity of the surrounding area as far as practicable through generous setbacks from residential properties and appropriate design and siting of the facility to minimise its visual impact”. While the site of the new tower is identified as Green Wedge Zone Schedule 3, the shire said it “does not compromise current or potential green wedge or agricultural land uses”.
Cr David Gill, who led an amendment for the tower to be built within two years rather than four years, said, “it’s a long time for people to have to wait if these are urgent matters”. While he was satisfied with the planning process for the planned tower, he said he would keep opposing other phone towers where “people’s rights are affected” and where they are built “right next to their houses”. “Unless we speak up, we lose more of our planning and rights to debate these matters in public,” he said. “This time it has come to council, it’s been able to be spoken about, and people have been able to talk to the council about their objection and we’ve heard those and the proponent’s views as well.”
Cr Kate Roper agreed, saying “we have had a few of these that have got the permit, and they’ve sat there and not built them and reapplied for permits later”. The new tower will be situated 1.2 metres to the west of Tubbarubba Rd, and about eight metres to the south of Myers Rd, and 77 metres from the nearest house.
First published in the Western Port News – 30 April 2025
