Cambridge News | 31 January 2020

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CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1

FRIDAY JANUARY 31, 2020

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JANUARY 31, 2020

Petition opposes new tower By Sophie Iremonger

Residents are planning to fight a bid by telecommunications company 2degrees to erect a cell phone tower near their homes. Twelve homes closest to the proposed site, at the corner of King and Stafford Streets, received a letter from 2degrees this month about their intention to install “small antenna units” to increase service coverage in the area. “We are making an application to Council before installing small, state-of-the-art antenna units,” the letter read. “We’ll write to you again before we start any work.” 2degrees confirmed this week that a resource application had just been made, and the site would contain standard 4G technology for increasing service capacity in the area. It will not be a 5G tower. The letter also stated: “these new units have a reduced footprint to a typical cell site which reduces visual impact. This means they can be placed on smaller new poles to mount them at optimal height for coverage purposes.” As of Wednesday this week Waipa District Council was still waiting for the application to be formally received and processed. Some residents in the area are concerned that if the project goes ahead, it could affect the health of residents, or at the very least the house prices. “It’s obviously going to be an eyesore but that’s not my main issue, for me it’s more about health, and the house values going down,” said Amina Tritar, the closest resident to the proposed

site – right outside her front fence. “If I were renting, I’d move. But we bought our home less than a year ago, I’ve got a four-monthold baby, I’ve set up my business here… “A big part of it is the fact that there hasn’t really been enough research on the long terms effects on health from this technology. They can’t tell me whether it’s really going to be safe for my new baby.” Her neighbour, Elen Rogers, a former South Auckland resident, asked why other sites could not be considered. “And why so close to houses… I don’t really want to move anywhere else because I’ve wanted to live in Cambridge for a very long time.” Amina Tritar said she wanted a say in what went on right outside her home. The pair have started an online petition, which had gathered over a hundred signatures within half a day of starting earlier this week. It’s available through the Facebook page “Community against the 5g tower - King & Stafford”. They also planned to provide a written version of the petition for people to sign at nearby schools. They plan to raise their concerns at next week’s Cambridge Community Board meeting. The meeting, on February 5 in the community room at the Cambridge Library, will start with a public forum at 6pm. 2degrees said the company had an open process and would keep residents informed every step of the way, and was happy to take Amina Tritar, pictured with four-month-old son Jackson Teague, hopes a community effort will help stop plans to install a cellphone queries directly from residents. tower outside her home.

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Cambridge News | 31 January 2020 by Cambridge News, King Country News, Te Awamutu News & Waikato Business News - Issuu