Matt Quinn thinks his property will rise in value when the towers come down. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Residents of a New Plymouth suburb are celebrating the imminent removal of 16 power pylons - some erected in their backyards - which have towered over the neighbourhood for about 50 years.
National grid operator Transpower no longer needs the towers that once relayed electricity to and from a substation at the New Plymouth Power Station - which shut down in 2008.
Matt Quinn has owned his home on Marama Crescent in Spotswood for more than 30 years.
A 50-metre high power pylon towered over his property from a neighbouring section.
He was looking forward to it coming down.
"It's going to be a lot better because when you go outside you won't have worry about looking at them. You won't have to worry about any crackling noise."
Quinn said it would be good news for the value of his property.
"I think it's going to bring it up a bit more in valuation because having those hanging across you sort of puts things off."
He believed his property might be worth $20,000 more with the tower gone.
Danielle Smith who rents on Tohu Place had some reservations about what removing the tower there meant for the future.
"I'm definitely looking forward to them coming down; I just hope they don't subdivide us. That would be the biggest thing.
"I just like having a yard for our kids to play in and as you can see it's a big yard. I'd hate for them to cut it up, and then I've got nothing at all, just so they can put another property on there."
Smith would not miss the buzzing and wind howling through the wires.
Ben Ratford is looking forward to the power pylon being removed. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Ben Ratford rents on nearby Tohora Place.
"It's gone quiet now but it used to sparkle and pump out power. I'm quite glad that it's going."
A tower rises skyward from a vacant lot next to the home he shared with mates.
"It's just like having a neighbour. It's the same size as having another house. It's just like having a big electric neighbour."
David Easton, with baby Mia, thinks he timed the purchase of his Tohora Place home perfectly. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
David Easton bought on Tohora Place a couple of years back.
He thought he had timed it nicely.
"Really it's just worked out to our favour really. To be honest it didn't affect us too much at all. They just crackled a bit while they were connected, but really it's more the thought of it being there and maybe the look. It's possibly an eyesore but we weren't deterred at all when we bought this place."
Harcourts Real Estate agent Mike Powell said Easton and his neighbours might be in for a bit of a windfall.
"We've had several listings in the area and I've noticed a reasonable amount of feedback each time from some people who just won't go near the power lines, so with those out that opens properties in the area up to the entire market really and there's great value for money there. So, I reckon we might just see a bit of a surge in the Spotswood area in that neighbourhood."
Powell believed properties in the area could experience a boost of up to $40,000.
Transpower said the two overhead sections of wire were no longer required because of an earlier project to remove a substation at the former power station site and connect those lines together at Omata.
This reinforced transmission supply into the Carrington Street substation in Vogeltown which was now a key supply point for New Plymouth's power supply.
Transpower has begun removing wires from pylons once connected to a substation at the now-defunct New Plymouth Power Station . Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Grid supply general manager Mark Ryall said work to remove the transmission wires - some of which would require suspending workers underneath a helicopter to detach equipment - was already underway.
Once the wires were down attention would turn to the towers, with all 16 expected to be gone by the end of the year.
"This will typically involve the use of large cranes to remove towers section by section and for those towers with subsurface foundations, further removal work will be planned in conjunction with landowners and manawhenua," Ryall said.
It was a good feeling to be taking the towers out of landowners' sections, he said.
"It's great because they are no longer needed and we can take them away. We have a big focus on our social licence to operate and we don't want to have any bigger footprint than we need, so where we can remove things which gives back land and access to the local community that is a great feeling and something we will definitely do."
Ryall said Transpower no longer erected towers across residential neighbourhoods.
"We do not install towers or new lines through and area over housing today. We wouldn't do that and you probably couldn't get a consent for its installation. A lot of the towers and lines were built from the 1940s through to the 70s and often they were initially over rural land and housing has developed in and around them over time."
