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IT could take weeks to relocate a power pole protruding from the tarmac of an inner-city road. In a bizarre scenario, the Foundry and Albert street intersection in Wickham now features a power pole in the path of turning traffic a few metres out from the kerb. City of Newcastle and Ausgrid have blamed each other for the situation, which is expected to take weeks to resolve as there will need to be sufficient notice for an outage to relocate the pole. "This pole has not moved but as a result of works by Newcastle council to move the kerb, this pole has now been left in the road, clearly in an unsafe location," Ausgrid said in a statement on Monday. "Given the council has proceeded with the work leaving the pole in an unsafe location, Ausgrid will work as quickly as possible to schedule an outage to move [it]." When photos of the pole first emerged online, social media users were quick to tee-off at the council for what appeared to be a project gone wrong. But City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath said the work was no stuff-up. "We don't own the power poles," Mr Bath said on Monday morning. "What's going on here is, about six months ago there was a fatality on an Ausgrid site. An employee of Ausgrid died. As a result, Ausgrid, they've had some issues with the [workers'] unions. They are prevented from undertaking any ... live work." Mr Bath said the ban on live work had held up relocation of the pole before council commenced resurfacing. "Our choices are we either do no work, or we have to stage work, such as what you've seen," he said. "We resurface the road and we have to say to Ausgrid, we desperately need you to come in and temporarily overlook your ban on live work, relocate the telegraph pole, and then we will come back and finish the resurfacing ... it's incredibly frustrating for us, but the alternative is I just have guys sitting around doing no work." Responding in a statement, Ausgrid said it was "disappointing" to hear Mr Bath say council had proceeded with the work to move the kerb "knowing full well that the pole would be left in the roadway". The company said its temporary ban on live work after the death of an employee in April had held up the completion of jobs, but it made no apology for the delays. "This was the first fatality of a worker on our network in more than 20 years and prompted a comprehensive safety review," it said. "The pause on live work has caused some disruptions, but we do not step back from our commitment to ensure workers can go home to their loved ones safely." Those passing by on Monday could see a funny side, but also raised concerns. "It seems so impractical," worker Emily Dicks said. "It doesn't seem to have been very well planned or thought out properly. I don't know the full story, but it is odd." Newcastle resident Trevor Gorton said: "It looks like an accident waiting to happen." Wickham's Jack Wright was baffled by the work. "Imagine if someone ran into it? It's so dangerous. It's definitely a safety hazard," he said. "You wouldn't be able to see it very well if it was dark or in the late afternoon. It's not very well lit over there." City of Newcastle reinstalled safety barriers on Monday after they were removed from the site sometime over the weekend. Briana Judd, who works nearby, asked why the works were not coordinated between council and Ausgrid in the first place. "I don't think there has been much communication between Ausgrid and the council at all before they actually completed the work," she said. "It'll be more money, and more work to redo it once it does get moved. That's alright, us taxpayers will pay for it again." While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here. IN THE NEWS

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