AMTA criticises Central Coast Council over tower delays

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association has criticised Central Coast Council over delays in approving mobile towers, saying the backlog is leaving residents with poor coverage.

AMTA says it has raised concerns since March about the speed and consistency of the council's assessment process for mobile telecommunications facilities. It argues the delays have held back infrastructure upgrades while residents, businesses and emergency services continue to deal with weak coverage.

The dispute centres on the planning pathway for mobile infrastructure on the New South Wales Central Coast. AMTA argues applications are being delayed by repeated, staggered requests for information instead of moving through an efficient assessment and determination process.

Matt Evans, AMTA's mobile infrastructure consultant, said the current approach was failing both communities and network providers.

"Residents are asking for better coverage, infrastructure providers are ready to deliver it, and yet applications are being pushed out for hundreds of days by a planning process that is clearly not working," Evans said.

He also criticised the way information was being sought during assessments.

"Council keeps coming back with staggered requests for information instead of running an efficient, timely and proportionate assessment process.

"The result is hundreds of days of avoidable delay while residents, businesses and emergency services continue to rely on inadequate mobile coverage," he said.

Planning friction

The comments reflect a wider tension in local planning systems over how to balance environmental and community concerns with the need for communications infrastructure. Mobile towers and related facilities often face scrutiny over siting, visual impact and local amenity, even as demand for stronger mobile service grows.

Evans said those considerations should not prevent timely decisions.

"Environmental considerations matter, and industry works constructively to meet those obligations," he said.

"The balance tips too far when relatively small-footprint infrastructure is tied up in repeated requests, delayed surveys and procedural roadblocks, with little apparent consideration for the public need for reliable mobile coverage.

"Council must urgently meet with industry, stop issuing piecemeal information requests, move applications to determination, and commit to a planning process that reflects the essential role mobile connectivity plays in everyday life."

AMTA wants the council to meet industry representatives, advance delayed applications to the Local Planning Panel and avoid further piecemeal requests for information. It is also calling for a broader reduction in planning red tape affecting mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

National rules

The association argues the Central Coast case reflects a broader national issue: inconsistent planning rules for telecommunications assets. It is pushing for a more streamlined, nationally consistent framework for assessing mobile infrastructure, saying local processes can vary too widely in timing and approach.

That links the local dispute to a national debate over digital connectivity, particularly in areas where residents say service quality falls short of what they need for work, study, business, healthcare access and emergency contact.

Evans said the local delays pointed to a larger structural problem.

"Australia cannot improve productivity or build a sustainable future on slow, inconsistent and under-resourced local planning processes," he said.

"We need streamlined, nationally consistent planning rules that allow mobile infrastructure to be assessed properly, but also quickly. Communities should not have to campaign for basic connectivity while critical infrastructure is buried in bureaucracy.

"Mobile coverage is no longer a nice-to-have. It supports work, study, small business, health, safety, emergency communications and social connection. Councils must treat mobile infrastructure as the essential service it is."

The issue is likely to resonate beyond the Central Coast, where mobile blackspots remain a persistent complaint in many regional, outer suburban and fast-growing communities. While providers may be ready to build, projects still depend on local planning decisions, technical studies and consultation processes that can stretch on for months.

For councils, these decisions can involve competing pressures from residents who want better service but object to individual sites or structures near homes and public spaces. For the telecommunications sector, the concern is that prolonged assessments can leave communities without improvements long after the need has been identified.

AMTA's intervention adds to pressure on local planning authorities to show telecommunications proposals are being considered in a timely and proportionate way.