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Source: ONE News -
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One Auckland man is pulling out all stops to literally block the building of a cellphone tower outside his house.
Rowan Hegley is blocking access to a power pole outside his house, saying it is his only way to stop contractors putting a cellphone tower on it.
"I have just simply obstructed. I mean I've parked vehicles on the grass where they want to do the work," he says.
Hegley bought his home in the suburb of Bucklands Beach for the peace and quiet, good schools and because it was a sound investment, he thought.
But five months ago a flyer came through the letterbox saying 2degrees wanted to build a cellphone site outside his place.
Hegley saw red.
"I didn't pay for that and if there's one thing there, it's going to devalue my home," he says.
There is also the health concerns as Hegley has recently received council-approved plans to move even closer to the proposed tower.
"We're putting two bedrooms on the top storey coming towards the road. They would end up 12 metres from the cellphone tower."
However, the Manukau Council has given 2degrees the go-ahead to build the tower, one of eight in the area.
They say the recently introduced National Environmental Standard relaxes the rules for towers in residential areas.
Councillor David Collings, who voted against the move, is appalled by the decision, saying cellphone towers should only be put in commercial or industrial zones.
"I wouldn't want one outside my house and that's why we're making a stand. If it's not OK outside my house it shouldn't be OK outside anybody else's," Collings says.
Hegley's message to the council and 2degrees is he is not going away and the sentiment is spreading.
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