Page 866 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
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Mr Steel: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The drawings in Attachment 1 show the final proposed location of the electrical transmission lines and towers and was provided to representatives of Woodhaven Investments Pty Ltd and the Belconnen Golf Club on 13 November 2017. The survey plan in Attachment 2 shows the actual location of the constructed electrical transmission lines and towers as surveyed on 19 September 2019. These plans show that construction has occurred in accordance with the proposed plans.
(2) The site assessments were conducted on 13 November 2019 and the report issued on 22 November 2019.
(3) The earthing requirements for fencing are detailed in TransGrid Fencing Guidelines. These Guidelines detail the earthing requirements based on several criteria including the length of metal fencing, proximity to the transmission lines and transmission towers. On the residential fencing along the golf course easement, earthing of the fences is required at 3 sites. The golf course fence and gates require earthing at 8 sites.
(4) As stated above (3), earthing is based on the length of fencing not individual fences.
(5) The ACT Government is engaging with the utility around responsibilities.
(6) Earthing of a residential fence will require an earthing electrode drilled to a depth of approximately 1650mm and bonded/attached to the metal fence with 16mm copper cable. There should not be any disruptions to residents as the earthing electrode will be just outside the residential boundary. Residents adjacent to any earthing works will be advised prior to the earthing works being undertaken.
(7) Earthing requirements come about from the presence of nearby electrical infrastructure. As houses were constructed prior to the electrical infrastructure being constructed, the earthing was not required at that time.
Earthing is a relatively simple and low cost activity that only needs to be undertaken prior to the lines being energised.
(8) Residential fences are not located within the easement. Rather, they are located on blocks adjacent to the electrical easement and separated from the easement by a strip of public land.
Most residential fences are exempt from requiring development approval under schedule 1 of the Planning and Development Regulation 2008. As part of the exemption criteria, a fence must comply with utility requirements and is the responsibility of the person installing the fence.
As per (5), government is engaging with the utility about responsibilities.
(9) The statement ‘future transmission lines’ was in reference to the ACT Second Electricity Supply Project as they are currently under construction and not yet operational.
(10) The public notification system currently used by Access Canberra to perform this service was developed in the 1990’s and was not designed to incorporate development applications (DAs) where the total area of the subject block(s) is over a
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