Grasslands under threat as work starts on telecommunications tower

The native grassland regeneration site where the Indara company want to construct a telecommunications tower.

Construction of a 25-metre Optus and Vodafone telecommunications tower is underway on a much-loved native grassland on Limestone Avenue in Ainslie.

The Indara Digital Infrastructure company has selected the site on the highly-visible and environmentally-sensitive corner of Limestone Avenue and Quick Street in Ainslie, opposite the Hotel Mercure (Olims).

Residents and environmentalists are still hopeful public opposition could see the tower moved to a more suitable location just a 100-metres away.

Neighbours in the immediate vicinity were belatedly letterboxed that the construction would start this week, over the long weekend just prior to the work commencing. No other interested parties were told.

As intended, the lack of notice has blindsided residents and community groups who have been lobbying to have the tower built on a less visible and sensitive site just 100 metres away.

While we all need good reliable communications, there were at least another four possible sites nearby that were deemed technically suitable. But, Indara has refused to discuss alternative locations with affected locals. The site chosen was easy pickings indeed!

No way to treat a community group

Heavily impacted, the Friends of Ainslie Volcanics Grasslands volunteer group are deeply distressed that that their advocacy on the location of the tower has not led to any meaningful engagement.

The group has been actively rehabilitating threatened native grassland on this land, and have spent years nurturing, revegetating and caring for the site’s rehabilitation.

Despite their knowledge and commitment, the ACT Government has sidelined them from the project and allowed landscaping designs around the proposed tower to be developed without their input.

Friends of Ainslie Volcanics Grasslands: Ann Hare, Amy Blain, Marianne Albury-Colless; Ainslie Residents Association’s Tricia Fitzgerald; and newly re-elected Greens MLA Rebecca Vassaroti at the site.

The group’s convenor Marianne Albury-Colless, says the tower’s construction is subject to Development Application 202342438, which includes significant conditions on how the site must be treated, both through the construction phase and after completion.

These conditions include a landscape management plan, a selection of plant species, a construction environment management plan and approvals from a range of ACT Government authorities, including the Environment Protection Agency and the Conservator for Flora and Fauna. Were the latter blindsided?

The group is urgently seeking details on the implementation of these conditions and assurances about how they will be implemented during the construction phase and after; and is calling for:

  • a review of the landscape plan. Only three species are appropriate for planting on this site and two of those will cast too much shade. One species selected by Indara does not even occur in the ACT.
  • the planting schedule, and request that the community be engaged regarding what stock is being used and the details of the landscape plan. As we already have a detailed ecological site assessment for planting on the site they expect these to be complementary for grasslands
  • a copy of the Construction Environment Plan, including details of the exclusion zone and how this will be enforced, to ensure that the significant investment and work of the group are not undermined and ecological values are protected
  • future details regarding the safety and working signs
  • details of how the ACT planning authority has assessed and provided its consent that conditions have been met.

They also want assurances that their restoration work will not be impacted and limited during construction.

Affected residents and environmentalists need your support now!

Please call for a more sensitive and less public location for this tower at the more suitable alternative location around 100 metres away.

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