Court next stop for residents?

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

MOANA Road residents angry about new overhead fibre optic cables on their street are contemplating whether they could take their case to the High Court.

Chorus began hanging overhead cables to supply broadband internet on Monday, much to the disgust of most residents there who felt having a 15mm “black hosepipe” stretched across power poles had created an environmentally unsound eye-sore.

Resident Mark Clapham said residents were having an “ongoing debate” with council officers as to why the consent was granted.

Although it was not clear what the next step should be, Port Chalmers residents won a similar battle through a High Court injunction.

“The battle now is how we get an existing resource consent repealed.

“At the present time the cable is agreed by Chorus engineers as not complying with the resource consent, so it will have to be adjusted upwards.”

A letter drop had also taken place yesterday to establish the strength of feeling across the rest of the local community.

The “Moana Rd: Put it Underground” Facebook group, created by residents this week, now has 25 members, one of whom said she could also see the cable from Douglas Street.