QUICKLY AND QUIETLY is exactly how Aurecon plan to gain the Council’s permission to construct NBN infrastructure in Cooran. Few residents are aware that a 35m NBN tower is to be constructed in a semi-rural/residential area of Coles Creek Road.

This structure will devalue the property investment of twenty plus properties in direct view of the tower. This will have a domino effect on all Cooran properties as well as those in surrounding suburbs – meaning all property values will decrease - a fact that Aurecon refusesto address.

We’re not against progress; NBN will benefit some residents, but should not be approved at the expense of property owners. Aurecon will not answer the direct question of who will even benefit. An Aurecon representative has even stated that the tower’s signal will be compromised outside of a 3km range.

Aurecon are also keeping residents in the dark about a site share agreement with other telecommunication providers for purposes of co-location. This means the 35m eyesore will only be the beginning and soon enough several structures will blight our hill, like they do in view from Black Mountain Road.

The way Aurecon do business is a problem; all spin-doctoring and no regard for locals. Many residents are angry that only the land owner, whose property will be financially contracted, was directly consulted. Aurecon’s only rebuttal after ignoring this and many other pertinent questions was that they followed due process and without request held a community meeting for “good relations” – few petition signers from the local area were aware this meeting ever took place.

Aurecon have stated that they have moved proposed tower locations in the past through community intervention when there was a second viable option. Offended residents of our community are lobbying to have this tower relocated. Alternative locations include the vast surrounding government forestry or to co-locate infrastructure on top of existing communications towers as they’ve done in Gympie. With Council intervention we could simply reject the proposed location and request Aurecon representatives, who have Urban and Regional Planning qualifications and detailed aerial maps, tosource an alternative site rather than push for the location most expedient for them and inconvenient for us.

Submission dates will open in the next fortnight. Please support Cooran by contacting Melissa or signing this online petition. Please forward this petition to your family and friends so they too can support our lobby. You don’t need to be a local to the issue to make a difference.

If you’re local to Cooran then please head into Cooran or Pomona and sign one of the print petitions that can be found in many stores.

Time is of the essence. We need to stay polite, stay committed to the cause and make noise!!

Thanks for your support!

Melissa
RelocateNBN@gmail.com

NB: To find out more information about the NBN infrastructure and what this really means for the surrounding communities, ‘like’ the Facebook page ‘North Coast NBN Tower Action Group’. At this page you can also show your support for other communities going through similar frustrations.