Tower plan goes to VCAT

By Kath Gannaway
VICTORY has been short-lived for the 39 people who objected to the erection of a 30-metre communications tower on Mt Riddell Road in Healesville.
Yarra Ranges Council voted to refuse a planning permit for the tower on Tuesday, 22 March. But council has since discovered that Telstra had earlier that day applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a ruling on the grounds that Yarra Ranges Council had failed to make a decision within the prescribed time.
Within days of receiving a letter from Yarra Ranges Council advising them that the application had been refused, people who lodged a submission received a letter from Telstra advising the matter was now with VCAT and that they had until 26 April to make a submission.
A VCAT spokesman confirmed however that that deadline had been extended to 28 April to accommodate the Easter holidays.
Andrew Paxton, Yarra Ranges’ director of planning said Telstra was aware that the matter would come before council on the 22nd, but had not advised them that they planned to lodge the matter with VCAT that day.
He said the proposal was almost identical to a proposed telecommunication facility refused by council in 2000, and that his department suspected that Telstra would go to VCAT if it was refused again.
Mr Paxton said Yarra Ranges Council would defend its decision at VCAT and encouraged objectors to register their objections also.
The VCAT spokesman said any submission received on, or post-marked 28 April, would be considered, but anything later would not.