Residents against an NBN tower in Coorabell will have to go it alone after Council’s efforts to stop the project with a court injunction were abandoned at last Thursday’s meeting.
The tower is currently under construction at 308 Coorabell Road.
Councillors had supported a motion by Cr Sarah Ndiaye (Greens) to pursue legal avenues to stop the tower but, with the staff report suggesting it will be futile, councillors instead voted to note the staff advice and, ‘Write to ACMA and NBN requesting that clear information is available publicly, clarifying whether or not an NBN tower requires a DA from Council.’
Cr Ndiaye told The Echo, ‘I applaud the Coorabell community and the action they have taken against the construction of an NBN tower at 308 Coorabell Road.’
‘It feels awful to not be able to follow through with our original motion, but with Council a ‘model litigant’, and our legal advice from multiple sources indicating we would have little chance of success, Council’s decision not to go to court seems to be our only option at this time.
‘I feel like we’ve been “rolled” in the rollout and the concerns of our community are not being listened to by NBN Co or Vision Stream. I have asked that Council write to the governing bodies and request that the regulations around this are made clearer to avoid the confusion we faced when trying to understand whether or not a DA should have been sought by NBN in the process, but that would offer little comfort to residents living close to the tower currently under construction.
‘The community are in a different position from Council and if they are still really passionate about it they could perhaps take it on through the courts themselves. If a crowdfunding page were set up and the affected residents all contributed, they may have a different outcome, but it does really seem to be a David and Goliath type case, and we’ve seen over time that it’s not always the giants who win.’
It is of interest that you claim Coorabell residents are opposed to the NBN tower. I know of a lot of the residents who are welcoming the fact that the tower is being built. The concerns that some people have regarding the tower are stemming from an overabundance of misinformation that is being prolifically spread online.