New rules allowing cell towers up to 20 metres high to be built without resource consent have upset some homeowners around the country.
It follows amendments to the Resource Management Act and are intended to remove blackouts.
Under the previous rules, towers in residential areas could be built up to 3.5m higher than the nearest pole – restricting most towers to 12m in height.
From October 8, the towers are permitted to be 20m tall.
Dunedin property owner Shane Robinson says plans for a proposed tower beside his section have put subdivision plans on hold.
Robinson had received council approval to subdivide, and works were due to start this week, until he received a letter from infrastructure company Connexa advising a 20m cell tower would be built on the roadside.
"We won't be able to do what we planned, and we might have to stop our subdivision," he said.
The proposed tower would sit on land earmarked for a driveway.
"The pole outside at the moment is 7m so this is going to be almost three times that. Absolutely monstrous."
Robinson said this would "decimate" the value.
He said surveyors, lawyers and contractors had already been engaged prior to the letter from Connexa.
"We've spent tens and tens of thousands already."
Further north, Auckland Council received applications related to 34 cell tower projects in the month following the law amendments.
Hibiscus and Bays Local Board chairwoman Alexis Poppelbaum has been meeting with some affected residents and separately with Connexa.
"The information that's coming out there probably isn't that clear," she said.
"I've had a really constructive meeting with Connexa in the last two weeks to represent my community's concerns."
Telecommunications Forum chief executive Paul Brislen said taller buildings were hindering signal so the towers needed to be higher too.
"If you have to apply for resource consent for every single tower that's being built, it slows everything up," he said.
Brislen said blackspots had created safety concerns.
"The issue with consulting is that everybody wants the service, but they don't want the equipment built near their home."
The industry expects thousands of additional sites will be added.
"We're looking at about 3000 sites. Some of those will be shared towers, some of them will be on rooftops, things like that," Brislen said.
SHARE ME