Govt cracks whip on illegal cell towers

Government’s intention was announced by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis at a post-Cabinet news conference.

She said the Ministry of Planning through the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) and Town and Country Planning has already determined which existing towers will continue to stay up and which are to be removed.

“And there will be the removal in short order,” she promised. She said one of the issues that had become quite controversial was the siting of towers in residential areas. She said the policy document initially stated each tower should be 500 feet apart. But, she said, on careful examination it was felt that this would be impossible to maintain in densely populated areas, especially in the central business district of Port-of-Spain. She said an inter-ministerial team looked at this issue, and found most other countries did not have a “setback limit.” However it decided to err on the side of caution. Therefore, she said, the regulations required that the base area of a station should be a minimum of 400 square metres for self-supporting towers and the tower should be a minimum distance of 20 feet from any building.

She said in formulating the Mobile Cell Towers policy, health issues, civil aviation issue and issues relating to property values and developmental rights, were considered.

Noting that health was the primary consideration, Robinson-Regis said: “There is no definite decision on the impact of emissions. The WHO has not come down on one side or the another. But it has advised caution.”

She said the policy established exclusion zones because of health and safety factors. This zone would create a minimum area around a tower, so that in the event that it collapses or is pulled down, there is no damage to property or life.

There would also be a buffer zone to prevent children from having access to a tower so that they are not tempted to climb towers, she said.

Robinson-Regis said the ministry considered the visual impact of cellular towers on the landscape, the unnecessary proliferation of cellular towers, the enforcement of the provision for mandatory co-location on a single tower as proposed by the TATT, the concern of residents about the potential negative health impacts of cellular facilities and the need for timely and safe removal of abandoned or disused facilities.

Robinson-Regis said various stakeholders — TATT, Trinidad and Tobago Aviation Authority, EMA, Telecommunications Policy Unit of the Ministry of Public Administration and Information, THA, TSTT and Site Acquisition Services which was the site provider for Digicel — were provided with a copy of the policy document.

She said the objectives of the policy were to balance the needs of the telecommunications industry with the need to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by regulating the location of these stations, to provide a consistent and coherent policy, to provide for the appropriate location and sites, to minimise adverse visual effect of towers and antennae, to avoid potential damage to adjacent properties, and to protect residential and other sensitive land use activities from the adverse impact of base station installations, towers and antennae through shared use.

Robinson-Regis stated the policy which will become part of the Town and Country Act as regulations. The AG will be drafting those regulations, she added.