Warrnambool to get another new mobile phone tower on Wollaston Road

The 35-metre tower will be sited on a rural property at 366 Wollaston Road under plans submitted to the city council.

The tower, proposed by telecommunication company Amplitel, will be contained in a new fenced compound area and would cater for the new 4G and 5G network that is being rolled out across Australia.

The tower is set to provide "much needed" capacity relief for the existing Telstra facilities and carry new cellular traffic in the area, the planning application says.

"Surrounding sites have been expanded to their maximum capability and the proposed site is required to meet the traffic demand and growth in the area," it says.

The facility would allow for other carriers to co-locate at the same location in the future.

"The site selection process carefully considered environmental and visual constraints, existing and future land use characteristics, the orderly planning of the area and the design of the facility," the application says.

"The proposed location has been deliberately sited so as to reduce and lessen any visual impacts from the proposed facility towards neighbouring properties as well as Wollaston Road.

"Amplitel and Telstra acknowledge some people are genuinely concerned about the possible health effects of electromagnetic energy from mobile phone base stations and is committed to addressing these concerns responsibly."

The planning application for the new mobile phone tower comes just months after city councillors rejected Telstra's plans for a new tower at Bushfield to improve coverage labelling it a "long drawn out saga".

The Telstra proposal for Bushfield was also for a $250,000, 35-metre 4G and 5G tower.

But that plan had been met with backlash from Bushfield residents who were unhappy about being sandwiched between two towers, with an Optus/NBN phone tower already located nearby at the recreation reserve.

In August, Warrnambool City councillors unanimously voted to reject the proposal, going against the recommendation from council officers to grant a permit.

Telstra was disappointed with the decision saying it had investigated about nine different locations in the Bushfield, area and believed the site chosen was a good balance between the level of visual impact and the service benefit for the broader community. Objections to the Wollaston proposal close November 3.

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