Openreach 'whistleblower' claims telegraph poles are being installed without serving legal notices

An argument over telegraph poles was raised in Parliament after a "whistleblower" claimed they were being installed without notice being served.

Openreach is accused of failing to tell local residents when they planned to install telegraph poles in Southport, Merseyside, resulting in protests in the area.

The company denies the claims despite the MP for Southport getting involved and a "whistleblower" speaking out about the issue too. Telegraph poles currently do not need planning permission and can be installed under permitted development as long as notice is appropriately served.

Roads blockaded by angry residents

The accusations arose after attempts to install a new gigabit broadband ISP network called Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) in Southport were halted when angry residents started blockading roads.

Residents objected to the poles being added to their local area due to their negative visual impact they would have on the surrounding landscape, as seen in Yorkshire other areas. They highlighted that underground cables should have been installed instead and that Openreach engineers failed to follow safety guidelines when installing the poles.

Telegraph poles up to 15m tall can be installed under permitted development rights, as long as companies give 28 days notice to Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) under the Electronic Communications Code. However, it is claimed that Openreach failed to serve these appropriately.

Claims Openreach failed to serve legal notices

The issue was raised in the House of Commons after the MP for Southport, Damien Moore, claimed a "whistleblower" from Openreach said the company was installing poles without proper consultation.

Moore stated in the Commons: “According to a whistleblower allegedly within Openreach, the transition to overhead cabling has on too many occasions appeared to be proceeding without sufficient consultation with key stakeholders and, more importantly, local residents. 

"Regrettably, in my constituency of Southport, it would appear that Openreach has sidestepped its own procedures for gaining community agreement, disrespecting the will of local residents.

"I call on the Leader of the House to request that the relevant Minister make a statement on these practices by Openreach. It is imperative that we ensure Openreach’s strict adherence to its own policies and legal responsibilities, particularly if those were taken into account when it was awarded the contract. 

He finished by calling for Openreach to "put a pause on all activity by Openreach" until it was confirmed Openreach were adhering to its own policies.

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt responded ensuring that the Secretary of State will hear the allegations and that she will "ask that an official from the department gets in touch with his office swiftly" on the matter.

Openreach says it 'explored every possible option'

Openreach deny the allegations of failing to engage with the residents in a statement, but failed to comment on the alleged "whistleblower" at Openreach.

An Openreach spokesperson stated: “We know that people feel strongly about poles and understand why. Our local team has engaged extensively with local residents, and also explored every possible option for the build.

“We’ve communicated our decision to continue the build by using our existing network wherever possible and positioning any new poles sensitively.

“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 that Southport has one of the "lowest percentages of full fibre broadband coverage in the UK" with only 20% having access and any delay to the work "would deprive thousands of other local people who want the new technology".