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A CELLPHONE giant's plans to erect a 35m lattice mast with three antennae on Little Foot Farm in Gordon's Bay to improve the poor reception of clients in that area, has met with some opposition from Helderberg councillors, who have once again had to hear that they have no delegated powers in the matter.

The Vodacom application was tabled at the recent subcouncil meeting but councillors would not support a recommendation from officials that the application be approved after hearing that a policy on the issue was only to be tabled at the Cape Town city council at the end of May. They decided that the application only be dealt with after the policy was approved.

Councillors were not happy to find out that they would not be able to give any input.

"We must be able to state our case," Alderman Maatjé Ellmann, who lives in the ward, said, "otherwise these masts will be erected all over the place".

Gerhard Visser, the Helderberg Administration's chief town and regional planner, informed the subcouncil that town planning consultants in Bellville were handling the application process and that the Department of Environmental and Cultural Affairs and Sport had already approved the application to erect the mast on Little Foot Farm.

EnviroAfrica had been commissioned by Vodacom to investigate possible environmental impacts and, as part of the public participation process, the application was advertised in the media on May 11 last year. No comments or objections were received in the three weeks allowed for the public to comment.

Mr Visser said officials were only asked to give input on the land use aspects for an application for temporary departure from the zoning scheme regulations. "We were told 'hands off'," he said. According to Mr Visser, officials were being pushed to complete the process as quickly as possible, even if it meant leaving everything else to attend to the matter.

Colour, advertising
Councillor Gisela Jespersen said she only found out on the morning of the meeting that a policy on the relevant issues was to be served at the city's exco meeting on May 21 and at a full council meeting on May 29 for approval.

Both she and the local subcouncil chairperson, Abie Knox, expressed concern at the fact that the application was being considered even before there was a policy in place.

"Why can we say what colour it must be painted, but not have a say in anything else?" Mrs Jespersen asked. "We should be able to say we don't want a mast every five metres. Imagine how it would look if advertising is allowed on the masts," she said. She also said that warning signs on health issues should be put up in the vicinity of the mast.

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