Rudman's city: Objectors leaving it late as telco spins its cable web

By BRIAN RUDMAN

Aucklanders are a slack lot. Nine months ago when Australian telecommunications giant TelstraSaturn announced a plan to blight the city streets with ugly black overhead cables, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But given the chance to object, few Aucklanders have. The closing date for submissions on TelstraClear's (its new name) application for resource consent for the first stage of its proposed network closed on Monday. Just 55 submissions were received.

A glance through those suggests there is more concern about ancillary matters, such as whether a little green control box will be put outside a submitter's house, than about the new wirescape above.

But it is not too late to make a submission about the three other consent applications. The closing dates for them are next Wednesday, April 10 and April 17.

Do not be put off by the fact that you do not live in the areas affected. The fact that your area could be next is enough to participate. You can argue that if TelstraClear gets a foothold in one part of the city, it will create a precedent for when the telco wants to move into your suburb.

At the heart of the TelstraClear spiderweb is its telecommunications centre, being built in Penrose. From there, the strands will radiate out over the whole isthmus.

The first stage, for which submissions have closed, covered around 9000 properties in the industrial heartland of Te Papapa, Southdown, Westfield and Otahuhu.

Still open for submissions are the consent applications for Ellerslie, Mt Wellington, Tamaki, Panmure, Onehunga, Oranga, One Tree Hill and Royal Oak.

Applications are expected for Manukau City, covering Mangere and Otara.

By good luck or good management, or a bit of both, TelstraClear's first applications cover suburbs which are not that leafy or environmentally concerned, or politically active. In an industrial estate, I guess, what is one more bundle of black cables?

The worry is that if the telco is successful in arguing, as it plans to, that the wires "will have no more than minor effects on the environment" of these suburbs, a precedent will be set.

With this wirescape approved, it will be difficult to persuade planning commissioners that what is all right for one part of the city is not suitable for more well-heeled suburbs.

If you live in Herne Bay, Remuera or St Heliers and plan to hold off objecting until TelstraClear starts knocking on your door, you could be leaving your run a bit late. Better, it seems, to object now and often.

The company says it would prefer to underground the network, but that is not an option because it would cost five to six times as much.

Instead it wants to drape bundles of cables, varying in thickness from the diameter of a 10c coin to that of the inside of a toilet paper roll (their example, not mine).

The cables are to hang a minimum of 30cm below existing power lines and a minimum of 4.25m above ground. If Wellington is anything to go by, the outcome will not be a pretty sight.

With power lines firm Vector pepping up its plan to underground all of its lines, TelstraClear's proposal is a step back into 19th century engineering.

As I have noted before, it is a deal signed between Vector's predecessor, Mercury Energy, and TelstraClear's predecessor, Saturn, in 1996, that the telco says gives it access to Vector's power poles.

Vector management, and its energy trust owners, are aghast at having inherited this deal and want out. Vector argues that the deal is null and void, invoking an escape clause in the contract in the event of Saturn changing hands.

The telco rejects this and is off to court in July to get the contract enforced.

Vector chief executive Patrick Strange refuses to discuss the dispute but makes passing reference to it in his submission to the TelstraClear application. In it, he concentrates on the impact adding new cables would have on Vector's overhead network, and suggests the applicant's indicated construction time of three to six months for stage one is optimistic.

He says all Vector poles will have to be strength-tested and "considerable strengthening and renewal of the Vector overhead network will be required".

He says many electricity lines will have to be re-tensioned to achieve the clearance needed between the power and telecommunication wires. "Overall, the upgrading required will involve significant pole replacement, foundation-strengthening and staying."

Ominously, if you still have unsightly power poles at your front gate, the arrival of TelstraClear in your street is likely to shunt your lines to the end of the queue for undergrounding, whether you invited the telco or not.

This is because "essentially the overhead lines with the poorest condition and performance are targeted [for undergrounding] first".

Because the arrival of TelstraClear will result in "significant renewal" of existing lines infrastructure in such a neighbourhood, undergrounding in that area "is likely to be delayed significantly relative to the situation without the rollout".

If you want to participate, contact Auckland City at 379-2020 for a pamphlet and submission form. Details at www.akcity.govt.nz or TelstraClear at 0800 936389 or at www.telstraclear.co.nz