Line upgrade accord pleases farmer lobby

An agreement between Federated Farmers and Transpower over compensation for farmers disrupted by an infrastructure upgrade has been welcomed by a lobby group that represents affected landowners.

Oturehua farmer Ken Gillespie, a spokesman for the Roxburgh to Duntroon Landowners Group, said yesterday's agreement was a significant and positive step forward in ongoing negotiations between the two parties.

The agreement is over a schedule of payments based on the number of pylons on landowners' properties.

Transpower owns and operates New Zealand's high-voltage electricity transmission grid and last month it received permission from the Electricity Commission to upgrade lines between Roxburgh and the Waitaki Valley.

The work would include adding another conductor to existing lines and strengthening and replacing some towers.

At a conference at Alexandra in June, Mr Gillespie told the commission the $1.4 million Transpower had allocated to compensate landowners affected by the upgrade was insufficient.

Despite the new agreement, he said Transpower had not increased its offer.

He declined to say how much the agreement was worth to farmers, but said it was not for all of the $1.4 million.

"The amount is between Transpower and us. Farmers are by no means under any compulsion to accept the offer.

"We hope they do, because there's been a lot of negotiation and this is the best we can do.

"If farmers want to hold out for more, they're welcome to."

"One of the most positive aspects of the deal was Transpower had recognised any maintenance or upgrade of the lines was an intrusion on farmers, Mr Gillespie said.

"That's a major step forward and the compensation is recognition of that. It's not as much as we'd hoped, but it's certainly recognition."

Talks between Federated Farmers and Transpower would go on for some time yet, he said.

"We will continue to hold talks on transmission issues impacting landowners, including the opportunity for the landowner to receive future annual, reviewable payments and issues around injurious effect."

The one-off payment for disruption caused by the upgrade would not preclude compensation for any physical damage caused during the upgrade, he said.

Transpower chief executive Patrick Strange hailed the agreement as a step forward.

"Both parties have made their best efforts and it's good to get to this point.

"We still have other issues we need to resolve, such as easement agreements, and we are making progress with that.

"Other sensitive issues are outside of this agreement, but we will keep talking.

"When we undertake major upgrade works, we recognise that our projects can disrupt farming operations.

"We have standardised our compensation framework to recognise that impact and this is a positive step forward regarding our landowner relationships."

- colin.williscroft@odt.co.nz