In the line of danger

You can trim these pohutakawa trees, but kids are still in danger. The solution? Bury the power lines, a Devonport man tells Debrin Foxcroft. If only he could get the council and Vector to agree ...
Swings hang from pohutukawa branches in Devonport. Generations of Kiwi children have used the stately trees as their jungle gyms, fortresses and launch pads. And the relentless promotion of Avatar's tree-dwelling blue people is likely only to increase children's curiosity.
But among the gnarled branches, green leaves and red flowers in Ascot Ave, are wires. Lots and lots of electricity wires.
For six years, Kent Fraser has asked the Vector power company to put the lines underground  to make his street - and others like it - safer.
"The biggest issue for us is about health and safety," he says. "Vector has cut the heart out of some trees around the corner, but you can still reach out and touch the lines."
Mr Fraser has a paper trail leading to  North Shore City Council and to the power company.
His requests always meet a negative response.
"No one is analysing this through the best possible dollar spent," he says. "Vector owns the structure, the council owns the trees and the trees have to continually be trimmed.
"But even ones that have recently been cut are dangerous. In just a few minutes the kids can still touch the lines."
Another concern is disfiguring the protected trees when their hearts are cut out. Some of the old trees resemble large, leafy doughnuts.
"I have tried to follow the process, tried to put through an argument based on health and safety, followed by the fact that these are old and beautiful trees that draw people to the area.
"They come in and cut the heart out of them."
When traffic islands were  built recently  for the safety of local children, Mr Fraser again asked the council to spend that money on undergrounding the lines, for the safety of everyone.
Philippa White, external communications manager for Vector, says there are no plans to ground the lines along Ascot Ave.
"Vector does not have any plans to underground the overhead lines on the North Shore," she says. "It costs approximately $1 million per kilometre to underground overhead lines."
She acknowledges the lines can pose a risk to children climbing trees.
"Under the Electricity Regulations 2003, tree owners are required to ensure their trees are kept clear of lines.
"The regulations are in place to protect public safety and the power supply.
"Vector is required under the law to notify tree owners when their trees encroach a minimum clearance distance from lines specified in the regulations.
"The tree owner is then responsible for trimming their tree to the required distance. In this case, it is a council [that] owns the trees."
The council's group manager for infrastructure, Alan Wallace, says while the preference is to bury the lines, the only present option is to trim the trees.
"At the moment, we don't have the funding for undergrounding lines other than as part of major works," he says.
"There is a provision in the council's policy for customer-initiated grounding, but those cases are rare. So, at the moment it is something we would like to do more of, but we can't afford it."
A 2004 report says it would cost $300,000 to put the lines along Ascot Ave underground.