Waihī festive flags taken down after micro-fractures in lamp posts discovered

The festive flags were once a prominent feature on Seddon St in Waihī. Now they are gone. Photo/ Hauraki District Council

Hauraki District Council has brought Waihī “grinchy” news as the town’s festive flags had to be taken down.

“Bah humbug! ... An assessment of a light pole has shown some fatigue (micro-fractures) in the steel,” the council said on social media.

“This is caused by movement primarily due to the wind. We need to understand if this is a recurring problem with all of the light poles or an isolated issue.

“To do this we have engaged experts to undertake further assessments; unfortunately, as a precautionary measure, we need to take down the festive Christmas flags.”

Hauraki Mayor Toby Adams said the lamp posts were not originally designed to hold the flags and their use had caused metal fatigue in the posts due to additional wind loads.

“The flags act like sails.

“We’ve observed some poles displaying more metal fatigue than others, so we’re erring on the side of safety and taking the flags down while we get all the lamp posts assessed.”

Following the assessment, Adams said the council would know how much fatigue each lamp post is showing and what decisions to make, if some or all of the lamp posts were unusable, and if it would be feasible to keep the original lamp posts as lamp posts only and have flag poles between the lamp posts instead.

“The lamp posts are an integral part of the Waihī streetscape, so we want to carefully consider all options before any decisions are made.”