Citizens' Assembly Wessobrunn: Two big issues - and clear appeals

The first citizens' meeting of Wessobrunn's town hall chief Georg Guggemos, who has now been in office for almost one and a half years, revolved around only two topics.

In the multi-purpose hall, broadband expansion and mobile communications in the convent were discussed for over three hours.

Wessobrunn

- "I am pleased that so many have come," said Guggemos, welcoming the around 80 present. "Unfortunately, we also had to send a few home," he added when checking the 3G rules in the anteroom of the hall. In the hall, the town hall chief first presented the key data for the broadband expansion, which began in Forst at the beginning of September. "We have also achieved a successful negotiation, so that the center of Forst and the neighboring hamlets of Eck, Feuchten and Burgstall will be activated by the end of 2021," reported Guggemos. With the exception of Eck, no road closures are planned during the construction work.

The town hall chief appealed to everyone who received a "joint user contract" (MBV) from Telekom, which regulates the installation of network distribution boxes (NVT), to sign it.

"Otherwise we have to think about alternatives," said Guggemos - which could lead to delays.

Citizens should decide quickly

Josef Scherl then praised the good cooperation with the community. "After all, this is not an easy project," said the Telekom manager for the South region. He also made an appeal to the people of Wessobrunn to decide to join them by mid-October. "Now it costs nothing, later at least 799 euros, and that is by no means cost-covering," explained Scherl, who then used a map to show the route of the 29 km long lines and the locations of the 27 required NVTs. "For cost reasons, the old town council decided to lay a few above-ground lines, but it can be discussed with the landowners whether they can be laid underground," said Scherl, who has received 330 responses from a total of 440 households in Forst, Paterzell and Haid got,that fall into the expansion program.

"Problems will be resolved immediately"

It will be built as long as the temperatures do not drop well below zero degrees.

“After Forst we go to Paterzell.

We are still missing a few MBVs in the direction of Zauberhütte and Birkland ”, Scherl finally looked ahead before Thomas Meisl from the construction company Nibler presented his team.

"You can be contacted at any time, and problems will be resolved immediately," Meisl promised before the question and answer session, which included the contracts and the laying of cables.

"If you have any further questions, just write an email, but I can assure you that we will all join who would like to," Scherl explained.

The second part of the citizens' meeting was about mobile communications, in which Thomas Kurz from the State Office for the Environment first explained the legal framework and the possible dangers.

"There is no connection between base stations and any health disorders," said the expert.

“The cell phone is the bigger problem than the base station,” added Kurz, since the weaker the network, the more radiant the cell phone has to emit in order to be able to establish a connection.

“You should have confidence in the legislation and the limit values,” Kurz concluded his lecture, which Scherl added with further information.

New transmission mast planned in Forst

"Every municipality that is preparing for the future is not only allowed to talk about broadband, but also has to talk about mobile communications," said Scherl, who reported that 80 percent of the population in Germany can now make calls with 5G.

This is also the case with the only cell phone location in Wessobrunn am Klostergut.

This station also offers good reception for the surrounding area.

In Forst, however, it is very bad.

Therefore, a transmission mast is to be erected there.

“It is being built on behalf of Vodafone and will include all providers,” reported Frank-Peter Käßler from Telekom, who closed the three-hour meeting with another appeal: “I can only appeal to everyone in the community about the project to support."