A mobile phone company that put up 200 telephone poles across a Clear Water Bay beauty spot has agreed to take them down after a meeting with angry residents.
And objectors are now calling for tighter planning regulations on the extension of mobile phone networks in rural areas as they celebrate a successful campaign to have them removed. Hutchison Telecom put up the metal poles along coastal roads in Clear Water Bay last year to extend its mobile phone network after gaining approval from the Sai Kung District Lands Office.
But the lands office ordered the company to stop the project in October following complaints from residents, and called it to meetings with village representatives and with the Hang Hau Rural Committee last month to answer questions. Hutchison had proposed at the meetings to put most of the cabling underground, but leave in place 40 poles, which would be painted green.
However, the company had changed its plans after the second meeting and adopted underground cabling for the entire project even though there was a 'little bit more cost' involved, a spokeswoman said.
The poles, which are about 6 metres tall, are scattered for 11km along Clear Water Bay Road from Silver Strand to Tai Au Mun, and continue along Tai Au Mun Road to Po Toi O and along Tai Wan Tau Road.
Paul Zimmerman, of Ng Fai Tin, said village elders and residents at the Hang Hau meeting had objected to Hutchison's proposal on the grounds that hanging cables on poles was a 'third world practice' and the acceptance of any pole would set a bad precedent. He said regulations ought to be introduced to require telecoms companies to carry out an environmental impact assessment, including consultation with the community, whenever they applied to extend their network.