Titirangi kindy wins battle over substation

Vector has dropped plans to build an electrical substation next door to a Waitakere City kindergarten after a year of anxiety for parents and neighbours.

Fearful parents threatened to pull their children from Titirangi Kindergarten when Vector announced plans to build the substation at 515 South Titirangi Rd, close to the kindergarten, a doctor's surgery, a community house and a playcentre.

Parents protested outside the lines company's annual meeting in October, saying they were afraid of health risks from electromagnetic frequencies.

Waitakere City Council and members of Parliament persuaded the company to look at alternatives to the designated site for the building which was 11m from a home.

Yesterday, Vector spokeswoman Philippa White said the Vector board of directors had reconsidered the proposal last week and resolved to instead upgrade the existing substation at Atkinson Rd.

The upgrade of the 50-year-old substation would meet the energy growth needs for the area and bring electrical machinery inside a building.

The kindergarten's parent representative, Louise MacLeod, said: "We are absolutely delighted and can now move on."

Auckland Kindergarten Association general manager Tanya Harvey said a playground development had been on hold during the wrangle. "We are now going ahead with that."

City councillor Paul Mitchell said Vector had identified another site which would meet its needs and the wishes of the community and council.

"They wanted to keep the site confidential until they had discussions with the council about resource consent. It's been a long process - over a year - and all credit to Vector, they looked at lots of different sites and engineering solutions."

The kindergarten was established in 1973 and the site for the 33,000-volt substation had been designated since the early 1980s.