Ausgrid hits out at council for widening Foundry Street and moving the kerb during the electricity distributor’s live work ban

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Newcastle residents have been left confused after a series of events led to a power pole seemingly installed in the middle of a road.

Photos of the baffling pole – which sits in the middle of Foundry Street in Wickham – were shared widely on social media, as the City of Newcastle and electricity distributor Ausgrid traded blame for who was responsible.

Matt Bevan 🎙 (@MatthewBevan) I'm reporting on @RNBreakfast from Newcastle today, where the top story is the local council moved the kerb at an intersection in Wickham before @ausgrid shifted the power pole - and let me tell you folks this story is lighting up @CoxDan and @jen_marchant's switchboard. pic.twitter.com/DymlytvHah

On Monday the council said the pole was in the middle of the road because Ausgrid had been slow in moving it.

The City of Newcastle’s chief executive, Jeremy Bath, said Ausgrid had put in a ban on live electrical work.

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In the meantime, the council had proceeded with roadworks that widened the road around the pole – placing it in the middle of the new road.

But Ausgrid have labelled this “disappointing” and “clearly unsafe”, because their pause on work was due to safety concerns after the fatality of an Ausgrid worker.

Bath said the council had previously put up fencing and bright orange barriers around the pole, but they had been vandalised and removed by a member of the public just before the photo was taken.

Local hairdresser Ali Price said the location of the pole was “super dangerous” and the lengthy roadworks were negatively impacting local businesses.

The Newcastle resident, who runs Hair by Ali Price at a salon around the corner, confirmed that the pole had not been moved – the road had been widened.

She told Guardian Australia she witnessed the sequence of events that led to the pole’s odd new position.

“They have been doing roadworks for about six months, and on Saturday we turned up at the salon and all the roads were blocked off,” she said. “They started pulling up the bitumen and they actually laid the new road around that pole.

“While they were doing that, they hit a water main. So they cut water off to our salon and the two restaurants either side of us. We had clients with curlers on and we actually had to go out and buy water to finish the treatment, to rinse their colours off. It was a disaster.”

Price said Foundry Street was “a very busy road” and the pole was a hazard.

“I think if you turned a little bit too sharp you would hit the pole. A lot of people cut that corner a little bit too, so it’s super dangerous.

“Those roadworks have really impacted our businesses, there is next to no parking now … We’re getting a lot of complaints. It’s just dragged on a lot.”

Previous photos of the street, captured by Google Maps in May 2018, show the pole in its original position on the kerb.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The old location of the power pole on Foundry Street, as captured by Google Maps in May 2018. Photograph: Google Maps

On Monday morning, Bath told ABC Radio they had decided to do “stage work” while Ausgrid had its work pause.

“About six months ago there was a fatality on an Ausgrid site,” Bath said. “They are prevented from undertaking any work on what we call live work.

“So our choices are we either do no work, or we have to stage work, such as what you’ve seen in Foundry Street.”

Bath said he had asked Ausgrid to temporarily lift its ban on live work to move the pole.

“We don’t own the power poles,” he said. “It’s incredibly frustrating for us, but the alternative is I just have guys sitting around doing no work.”

An Ausgrid spokesman said these comments were “disappointing” because the council “knew full well the pole would be left in the roadway as a result”.

The electricity distributor said it was working to schedule a time to move the offending pole.

“This pole has not moved,” the spokesman said. “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.

“It is disappointing to read comments by council CEO Jeremy Bath who stated council proceed with this work to move the kerb knowing full well that the pole would be left in the roadway as a result.

“As the council is aware, Ausgrid introduced a pause on live work on our network after one of our workers tragically lost his life while completing live work in April. This was the first fatality of a worker on our network in more than 20 years and prompted a comprehensive safety review.”

The spokesman said other councils had “respected” Ausgrid’s decision to pause work, but Newcastle council had not.

“Ausgrid acknowledges that 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 at the end of the day.”

A spokesman for the City of Newcastle said they expected Ausgrid to move the pole “as soon as practicable”.