Light returns to Ōpōtiki street after winter of darkness

Residents of an Ōpōtiki street are delighted to have had streetlamps reinstalled after a winter spent in darkness.

The residents at the western end of Ford Street raised safety concerns in March, when street lamps attached to power poles were removed when the power lines went underground.

The removal of the poles was part of Horizon Network's region-wide undergrounding programme of works.

Resident Paul Charman said he understood the new streetlights had not been added at the time due to miscommunication between Opotiki District Council, which is responsible for the lights, and Horizon, which is responsible for the power poles.

"This made evening walks to the supermarket a wee bit tricky. But we are delighted to see the new streetlamps now installed, even though [they're] along one side of the street only."

Council asset manager Jessica Wiseman said Horizon removed 10 of its overhead power pole assets between Nelson and Union streets. This resulted in 10 streetlights being removed.

The existing LED lamps the council owned have been reinstalled with new streetlight columns and went live on Friday.

"The undergrounding works changed the infrastructure previously used to support streetlighting, requiring the installation of new lighting columns and associated connections.

"Following confirmation of these requirements, council worked through the necessary approvals, funding, and delivery processes to install the replacement streetlighting infrastructure."

She said Horizon has identified some future works for King Street in 2028.

"This will need to be carefully assessed, and the process worked through with early co-ordination and planning.

"Council is now working closely with Horizon Networks to improve visibility of future undergrounding programmes and ensure infrastructure requirements are identified early, allowing projects to be planned and delivered in a more coordinated way."

Horizon Networks told Local Democracy Reporting it had submitted a Corridor Access Request to the council, that detailed the extent of the work it had planned to complete as part of the Ford Street undergrounding project, ahead of removing the power poles in March.