Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Farmer gives up fight against new power line

Updated at 7:41 am on 4 May 2012

A farmer who fought against the new North Island power grid upgrade for six years says he now accepts the inevitable.

Peter Philips farms near Morrinsville in Waikato and has the new line running through his property, including two new pylons, one at nearly 70-metres.

He also has a massive temporary scaffolding structure on his property to allow the new line to go over an existing grid line providing power to Coromandel.

Mr Philips says once the project got the final approval, it wasn't worth the stress of continuing to oppose it.

He says he accepted a compensation deal and is working closely with Transpower.

Mr Philips says a farm road has been upgraded, a cattle stop has been put in because there have been a lot of people through the farm and mostly those working there remembered to close the gate every night.

He says it's a big project and mostly the people who came onto the farm have been pretty good to work with.

Mr Philips says he's resigned to having the pylons and doesn't see any point in dwelling on the past.

Work on the line is progressing on schedule and power is expected to be flowing by the end of the year.

Copyright © 2012, Radio New Zealand