In Cedar Creek and Clear Mountain, there are two mobile black spot towers being proposed for installation – one in each suburb. While varying views on these towers exist across these communities, individuals need to be aware of the circumstances leading to this point.
The Federal Government Mobile Black Spot Program was initiated primarily to improve and to extend mobile phone coverage and competition in regional and remote Australia. It achieves this by co-funding new or upgraded telecommunications infrastructure. Residents register areas of poor coverage on the National Black Spot database. These are assessed and the program allocates funding aimed at improving telecommunications in these areas.
Beyond personal, professional, business and educational uses of improved communications, a key aim of the program is to improve community safety for individuals who visit or reside in nominated black spot areas.
Cedar Creek, notably, has 5 locations registered in the National Black Spot database. Clear Mountain has 3. These can be found on data.gov.au by searching for “Community Reports of Poor or No Mobile Coverage”.
In both Cedar Creek and Clear Mountain, multiple sites were investigated as part of the process. Only two possible candidate tower location sites have been identified – one in each suburb. These sites and development applications have moved to the community consultation phase.
As part of the end-to-end process, from black spot registration through to the installation of proposed towers, the community consultation phase gives local residents the opportunity to voice their thoughts, be they in support of or opposed to the development application.
Clear Mountain community consultation has closed and is awaiting a final decision on the proposed tower. Cedar Creek consultation has opened and will close by March 6, 2023.
Whether residents are making submissions in support of or opposed to the proposed tower, they need to ensure that they remain factual and evidence-based. The decision maker will review all properly made submissions and will make a determination based on facts and impacts, where relevant.
Samford NBN Advocacy Group