City’s training lights replaced

New lighting poles and lights have been installed at Peter Johnstone Park in Mosgiel as part of a renewal programme by the Dunedin City Council.PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH

When sport eventually starts being played in Dunedin this winter, spring or summer, training will take place under some new training lights.

The Dunedin City Council has replaced or removed most of 60 sports field lights and poles which were in poor condition, because of safety risks identified in a recent audit.

They are both DCC and club-owned lights and poles that are on DCC-owned land.

Fifty are owned by football and rugby clubs and ten are owned by the DCC. So far, 58 out of 60 have been replaced or removed and a further two, at the North Ground and Sunnyvale, are still to be completed. All poles will be replaced or removed by July.

DCC group manager parks and recreation Robert West said the poles and lights presented a possible risk to public safety so it was decided to replace them by the middle of this year.

"The DCC has met the cost of replacement and also taken over ownership and maintenance responsibilities. The replacement programme has been undertaken in collaboration with clubs and we thank all of the clubs for their proactive and positive response during this project," he said.

The audit showed damage to the lights and poles included rusting, cracking, timber degradation and electrical faults.

The new timber poles would be the NZ standard for club training and the number of poles would stay the same. The new lights would be LEDs, which were cheaper to run, last longer and were more efficient than halogen lights.

The cost of the work was about $600,000.