This new plan was met with a wave of protest from nearby residents as well as the well-oiled machine of participants from the previous two years of the Henley campaigns – ‘Resist’, ACATT, Henley and Grange Council, Henley residents and the local MPs. In November the proposal was rejected by Hindmarsh Woodville Council but referred to the federal environment department for a final decision. By now phone tower protests were emerging across the state and as ACATT coordinator I worked with some of these, such as Croydon Park, Brighton, Mitcham and Naracoorte. Luckily by now I was only working part time. With the project temporarily stalled, the phone companies even returned to Henley and Grange Council in 1996 in an attempt to revive the plan for the Henley Oval or Henley Square. The new proposal for the square was for the tower to be incorporated into a war memorial clock tower. No more was heard of these plans and in May 1997 the token federal department process ignored all opposition and rubber-stamped the Vodaphone proposal. From then on the Fulham Gardens Action Group met for two years and kept up a tenacious battle, including a year-long picket of the site that gained headlines across Australia. Vodaphone and its contractors were forced to ‘break into’ the site with a police escort to work on construction. I was on the picket line on the first occasion and later wrote this account: I did not witness the later pre-dawn ‘break-in’ which had a larger police escort including police horses. Extraordinarily, residents kept up the picket even after the tower was completed and the battle lost.
By this time, the Adelaide ACATT network included 11 protest groups, many interstate groups, and a major protest group in my old hometown of Christchurch. I was invited and sponsored to speak at meetings in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, present submissions to two Senate enquiries in Canberra, and attend a hearing in Christchurch where international scientists presented research on radio frequency radiation safety standards. In 2020, residents are still campaigning against telecommunications towers in their backyard. Telstra tower, Henley Beach 2016-17 Heather Flanagan
In 2016, the local community fought against the planning proposal and construction of a Telstra tower in the heart of old Henley Beach. Having such a tall structure located in a Residential Character Zone within an Historic Conservation Zone conflicted with local council restrictions. Building height and fencing design was tightly restricted and controlled by heritage and the Charles Sturt Council Development Plan. There are restrictions on the type of house you can build in this area. A Residential Character Zone is made up of areas of character housing from the Victorian, pre-World War I and inter-war eras. To retain the character of these areas, there are specific controls on design applications. For example, you cannot build a two-storey dwelling or extension.
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