Residents at an aged care facility on Sydney’s Northern Beaches have been campaigning for the installation of what they considered a ‘potentially lifesaving’ mobile phone tower.

Telstra will build a 31m tower near to the RSL ANZAC Village in Narrabeen, 30km north of Sydney.

Mackellar MP Jason Falinski says, “The tower is not just about giving the residents the convenience of phone reception in their own homes — it’s actually a matter of life and death.”

Mr Falinski says, some of the residents in parts of the village had no mobile phone signal and considering their age something as simple as a fall can prove to be fatal.

There were also fears that many medical devices, such as pacemakers which rely on a mobile signal to send warning messages may not work if there was a problem.

The telecommunications company initially applied for a 40metre tower, but council officers said it was of “excess height, visual impact, location bulk and scale”.

David Allcroft, chairman of the Residents’ Committee says, “It’s a huge relief for the village that the 31.3m tower will soon be installed.”