The 45m high tower would be on Browns Gap Road about 70m from the Great Western Highway.

Property owner Ross Dunstan has criticised the proposal itself and the timing of the development application’s period for public comment.

Mr Dunstan said many residents, away during the Christmas period, did not have an opportunity to lodge their concerns. It was only extended to February 21 after it was found that the applicant, Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd, had listed the wrong site address on its application. 

Mr Dunstan said the process had been a “farce”.

“I want it to be clear that I want broadband as much as anyone but there have to more suitable sites for this tower,” he said. 

Lithgow City Council’s Andrew Muir said, while an incorrect property description had been included in the application form, the maps circulated correctly identified the location of the proposed tower. 

Mr Dunstan objected not only to the impact the tower would have on the value of his own properties, which had been approved for housing development, but to the incongruity of having such a structure adjacent to the Little Hartley Conservation area.

Mr Dunstan said he failed to see how site was the most appropriate location for the development, seeing as it could be designed to cohabit with an existing mast at Mount Victoria. 

“They have not made a case for not taking up this option,” he said. 

In a letter to councillors, Mr Dunstan said the impact of “such a structure adjacent to the Little Hartley Conservation Area is of wider community concern for it will dominate the ‘Gateway to Lithgow’ vista as numerous tourists and motorists approach along the Highway from the east”. 

He will be making his arguments directly to council when the final report is presented. 

A recommendation on the matter is expected to come before Lithgow City Council in March.