A Parklands family is frustrated after being told a beloved red and black painted substation wall, a cherished part of their backyard for 25 years, is set to be painted over.

Cathy Musson said the painted wall, which is part of an Orion-owned substation on their property, has been a much-loved feature since her husband painted it red and black as a millennium project to represent Canterbury colours.

“When we moved here 25 years ago, it was just a concrete block wall — it wasn’t painted,” Musson said.

“My husband thought it was pretty ugly, so he painted it red and black, wrote ‘Our Colours, Our Place’ on it, and it’s been like that ever since.

Everyone who visits gets a laugh out of it — it’s part of our home.”

She said Orion workers have been on site many times over the years, but the painted wall was never an issue — until now.

“They told us they’re standardising their assets, and our wall doesn’t meet their criteria anymore. I asked if we could apply for permission to keep it, but they said it was too late.”

Musson said what makes the situation even more frustrating is that the substation is located down a private lane with only three houses nearby.

“The only people who really see it are us. It’s on our boundary, it’s not public-facing, and yet they’re insisting on painting it a standard creamy colour to match another wall along the boundary.”

Orion told the family they wanted the work done before the end of their financial year, but Musson and her family have pushed back.

“They came around again yesterday, but my son told them they’re not stepping on the property without us here.

Musson said they’ve bought some time until mid-April to challenge Orion’s decision.

Her son Chris said the move by Orion makes no sense. “I get it if it was visible from the street, but where we live it’s so tucked away. When we were kids, we used to play cricket against it and it’s just bizarre — no one can see it. It would cost thousands to paint. It’s pretty frustrating. I can’t allow it. It’s my red and black pride coming through,” he said.

“I said to Orion, why don’t you use it for advertising? If you paint over it, you’re going to upset a lot of people. If you leave it, more people are going to be happy.”

Cathy said she appreciates that Orion deals with graffiti elsewhere, but argues this situation is different.

“They said it costs them a lot of money to maintain these things because of graffiti. Well, we’re not the problem. It’s been well looked after, it’s not an eyesore — it’s the opposite.”

In fact, she said it’s probably going to cost Orion several thousand dollars to repaint it.

Her message to Orion is simple: “Please rethink this. It’s heavy-handed, unnecessary. We’re proud of it, and it’s only visible to us and a couple of neighbours. Let us keep it.”

An Orion spokesperson told chrislynchmedia.com: “We have a low tolerance for unapproved graffiti or art on our assets and have an ongoing maintenance programme for over 150,000 above-ground assets on our network.

We are currently in discussions with the owner of the adjacent property.”