Northern power refusing to move stay wire

cgee987

Hi, I’m hoping someone could give me some advice. 

Northern powergrid pole at the side of my neighbours garden, they have positioned a stay wire (anchor) attached to this pole in the middle of my garden. 

Before we bought this house I contacted them and they said equipments can be diverted I just had to apply online. I was in a rush to move out as I was pregnant, which is why we bought the property rather than waiting to find an alternative. 

I filled in an application to get this wire removed 4 months ago, and have been chasing them up ever since, they told me engineers where looking into diverting etc. 

As the property was owned by the council over 20 years ago the council apparently agreed to the stay wire being set there, however today I have received this email….

“ Although we do not have a current wayleave agreement with you, the assets are still held as being legally placed. To document the placement of the assets I can offer a one-off lump sum of £390.00 in exchange for a signed wayleave agreement” and them refusing to move the stay wire. 

My house is surrounded by land so there is plenty diversions, however, now that my baby is starting to walk he has bumped into this wire twice, which isn’t ideal and surely a safety issue on their part as well ? 

Anyone have any advice ??

(p.s. I know I should’ve realised about it being a potential risk, but at the time I was in a rush to move and it truthfully didn’t cross my mind)

kazwookie

I have no idea about moving of the wire, but for now to make it safe for your child, can you get a length of foam insulation sort of stuff that pipes are lagged with, cut it long ways, wrap it around the wire and duck tape it into place.

cgee987

Thankyou, I haven’t thought of that, there’s 2 seperate wires that attach to a clamp so I’ll see what I can do 

FreeBear

kazwookie said:

I have no idea about moving of the wire, but for now to make it safe for your child, can you get a length of foam insulation sort of stuff that pipes are lagged with, cut it long ways, wrap it around the wire and duck tape it into place.

Foam pipe lagging usually comes pre-cut, so all you need to do is run a finger down to open it up. But the stuff will need to be replaced every few years as sunlight will cause the foam to degrade.

Alnat1

£390 will pay for quite a bit of foam lagging though.

35har1old

cgee987 said:

DE_612183 said:

or you could accidentally damage it...

Hahaha, I’ll keep that as option C. Hopefully an option A or B can be brought up first. Would they have to move it if it’s damaged ? 

Is it a low or high voltage line?
 Likely to be replaced
Type in is cutting a stay wire dangerous
Possibly criminal  damage

mmmmikey

35har1old said:

cgee987 said:

DE_612183 said:

or you could accidentally damage it...

Hahaha, I’ll keep that as option C. Hopefully an option A or B can be brought up first. Would they have to move it if it’s damaged ? 

Is it a low or high voltage line?
 Likely to be replaced
Type in is cutting a stay wire dangerous
Possibly criminal  damage

Almost certainly criminal damage - and quite rightly too. You run the risk of being charged for the repair and/or facing criminal charges. Not an option a decent law-abiding person would even consider.

Note that the stay wire probably has to be where it is as long as the pole is where it is. There is a process for moving poles but it is expensive and it's not always possible just to relocate a single pole. You're probably better off doing something imaginative with the garden to make it less obtrusive.

Robin9

mmmmikey said:

Note that the stay wire probably has to be where it is as long as the pole is where it is. There is a process for moving poles but it is expensive and it's not always possible just to relocate a single pole. You're probably better off doing something imaginative with the garden to make it less obtrusive.

As a retired DNO engineer I dealt with several such jobs and generally they were a nightmare - that steel stay is there for a reason. It also goes into ground a couple of metres and on the end there will be a wooden  (think railway sleeper) or concrete block undercut into the clay .

You cannot move the stay without affecting the pole - moving the pole affects the next one and that may need a stay ....................   and so on.

If it is perhaps just a pole and stay with a couple of vertical wires on it just supplying you then with my DNO hat on I would be looking at replacing it all with an underground cable.  But those were the days when I had control of budgets.

cgee987

Robin9 said:

mmmmikey said:

Note that the stay wire probably has to be where it is as long as the pole is where it is. There is a process for moving poles but it is expensive and it's not always possible just to relocate a single pole. You're probably better off doing something imaginative with the garden to make it less obtrusive.

As a retired DNO engineer I dealt with several such jobs and generally they were a nightmare - that steel stay is there for a reason. It also goes into ground a couple of metres and on the end there will be a wooden  (think railway sleeper) or concrete block undercut into the clay .

You cannot move the stay without affecting the pole - moving the pole affects the next one and that may need a stay ....................   and so on.

If it is perhaps just a pole and stay with a couple of vertical wires on it just supplying you then with my DNO hat on I would be looking at replacing it all with an underground cable.  But those were the days when I had control of budgets.

thanks for the reply. There is 4 other poles attached, but this one is the second one along and only has 2 stay wires which connect to the middle of my garden. There’s a lot of land behind my garden, so you not believe the stay wires could be moved there ? There’s land belongs to my village which have already said they would be fine having the wires moved there 

Robin9

Any chance of a drawing ?

Scot_39

The stay wires exist for stabilty, and to support the pole against opposing forces acting on the pole that often act predominately in certain directions, depending say on cable routes.

The fact the pole is in a neighbours garden, but the now 2 from your later post stay wires in yours suggests the clear presence of an offset load on the pole.

So, and I am not saying this is your situation, say at a turn in the cable direction, they will be on opposite side - the outside of the turn, as the cable loading on the pole will be imbalanced, and often only 1 or 2 stay wire required. 

They are fundamental mechanical parts of the installation.

They depending on those loads cannot simply be moved to the other side of a pole - their directional.  They - as they are wires - act only in tension, to prevent the pole being pulled in the opposing direction.

There are things called stay guards that can be fitted, generally for visibility rather than physical protection per se, but they probably would be less harmful if a toddler, child made accidental contact. So in one trade vendors case their bright yellow,  hollow plastic with offseting "screws" in some piccies for others, maybe so cables stay aired and guards dont rattle in the wind  - but id leave it upto the utility company to fit them, if they will.  Its their pole, their stay wire. 
Might make the wire a tad more noticeable in the garden to you and others say at sale time though. 

Re safety - thats clutching at straws imo.  You could easily prevent your child's contact.  Like the same way you might say have went around your home and fitted child proof gates on stairways or maybe even bought a house without stairs so didn't need them. Or fitting child proof locks on doors, cabinets, fire guards,  radiator covers (yes radiators can be warm enough to scald a child), thermostatic valves on bath taps etc etc  

Can part of the garden not be fenced off by a low wooden fence or shrub line in some way to protect the child ?   Maybe a good use of the £390.

The fact stay(s) now on your land without a current  leeway, and they have given their reponse, which hasnt gone tge way you hoped for, you could take advice from independent specialist surveyors and or solicitors, re a legal challange, but if they can persuade a court even just likely the council approved (they clearly state they believe  "legally placed") and you might face large costs and loose ....

Its not ideal, but its not like you weren't clearly expecting a potential problem with the wires.