Yesterday, Hyndburn & Haslingden MP Sara Britcliffe spoke in Parliament about the need to combat the practice of telecommunications companies installing infrastructure in residential areas, in the House of Commons Adjournment Debate. The debate was brought by Dame Diana Johnson MP.
Currently, telecommunications companies can install such infrastructure under permitted development rights, the lightest touch form of planning requirement. It means council's have limited power to stop such development and residents on affected streets have limited recourse to challenge, even where poles block views or cable spans property.
Such poles have been going up in specific areas of Hyndburn and residents have contacted Sara to see what they can do about the practice. Sara has raised the matter with the relevant companies and written to the Government. She has now raised concerns of her Hyndburn and Haslingden constituents in the House of Commons chamber.
Sara Britcliffe MP said:
Intervention 1
I thank the right hon. Lady for bringing this matter to the House as it is a huge problem across Hyndburn and Haslingden. Does she agree that it is very frustrating when constituents see Openreach, for example, digging up the roads when these telegraph poles are being installed. The question is why the wires cannot go underground, rather than wires on telegraph poles spanning across their properties.
Intervention 2
I thank the right hon. Lady for giving way again. A key point is that not all the altnet networks are bad—there are a few that are making it very difficult for residents. Our problem is that, when those few span our constituencies, there is no regulation for us to fall back on when we contact Ministers and this can just happen. The planning authorities want to do something when they see that the positions are inadequate, but there is no regulation for us to do anything about it.
Intervention 3
The Minister has come to the crux of the argument. Some providers are doing that, but others are not and that is a problem. There is nothing to say that providers have to engage with a local community before they do it. Yes, there are some very good providers who will do it, but I have experienced others that do not.
