‘A small victory’ in poles fight
LOCAL residents and campaigners won a ‘small victory’ as they continue to challenge the planned installation of telegraph poles in Southport by communications giant Openreach.
The Southport-based campaign group is working hard to prevent nine-metre high wooden telegraph poles being installed by Openreach in multiple locations across the town.
Once again, neighbours came out in force on Saturday morning last week to peacefully protest a planned installation of telegraph poles on Wennington Road.
The protests represented a show of unity and commitment by the local community which also covered the surrounding areas including Griffiths Drive and Chester Avenue.
According to residents, Merseyside Police were called by Openreach workers shortly after arriving to start work.
Police vehicles turned up to the protest and attempted mediation between campaigners and Openreach workers but no resolution was forthcoming.
Police confirmed campaigners were conducting a lawful and peaceful protest with no incidents of disturbance. However, a stand-off ensued which lasted a number of hours.
As well as peacefully standing in the spot where works were planned, neighbours also parked their cars on all adjoining roads in an attempt to prevent access to contractors and the set-up of temporary traffic lights.
As a result, Openreach were faced with no option but to pack and leave up without any work being completed.
The proposed telegraph poles will carry FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) which will link properties up to the Ultra-fast Fibre optic broadband network.
The local community group say they support having better broadband, but they believe the poles are unattractive, damaging to wildlife and less effective than the underground cables they want instead.
Central to these concerns is the issue of ‘permitted planning’. This is a statutory instrument derived from the Town and Country Planning Order 2015.
It means planning permission for certain types of development can be granted without the requirement for approval from the local planning authority.
However, in a blow to the campaign, Openreach seem intent on pursuing the installation of overground poles.
The LDRS has seen a letter sent to residents from Southport MP Damien Moore after he contacted Openreach for an update.
It said: “Unfortunately, Openreach has now published a response confirming they will continue with the installation of aerial fibre optic cabling; their reasoning is due to the scale and financial cost associated with subterranean installation, in addition to the disruption to the road network.”
In a previous response to the ongoing protests, a spokesperson for Openreach said: “Bringing ultrafast broadband to Southport will create huge benefits for families and businesses in the area for decades to come, as well as a welcome boost to the local economy.
“Wherever possible we use existing network to build our broadband upgrades but in Southport cables are mainly buried direct in the ground. The scale and cost of civil engineering to install new underground ducts throughout the area just isn’t viable and would involve months of road closures and disruptions.”
Openreach added: “Southport has one of the lowest percentages of full fibre broadband coverage in the UK and the existing copper network there is increasingly unreliable, it also takes longer to repair because of the way it was buried historically, so to halt this upgrade would deprive thousands of other local people who want the new technology, both in Southport and surrounding communities.”
However, campaigners say they are not against the upgrade and would welcome faster broadband. They believe subterranean installation represents a much more ‘effective’ solution.
Resident Pete Nilsson said: “Openreach needs to reconsider how it deploys FTTP to these roads as the residents will not back down to their bullying approach.”