A PATERSON family who moved into their home a few weeks before a mobile phone tower was approved for a nearby site says councils and telecommunications companies should tell people about plans for such projects.
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Elisa and Sean Fitzpatrick said they recently discovered Dungog Shire Council approved in February, 2009, Optus's plans for a 35-metre mobile phone tower on a site about 100 metres from their Martins Creek Road home.
The approval was granted a few weeks before they moved in, but they were not told because council was only required to inform adjoining landowners.
Mrs Fitzpatrick said Optus had told them the electromagnetic radiation would peak about 97 metres from the tower. She was not willing to take chances of long-term health effects for their three children. She could not understand why Optus chose a site near houses.
Council planning director Matthew Brown said the council exhibited plans and informed three adjoining landowners.
An Optus spokesman said predicted electromagnetic emissions levels were less than 1 per cent of maximum exposure the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency permitted.
