Essential anti-MS3 poles information

DESPITE COMMUNITIES in Hedon making it very clear that they are unhappy with MS3 Networks’ decision to deploy telegraph poles to provide broadband services in Hedon and Preston, especially considering their prior notification that they would go underground and use existing cables, the company has never-the-less decided to proceed with planting its forest of poles.

In response, the Going Underground campaign (established at a public meeting on 9 September 2023), will intensify its ten-year campaign to boycott the company and those other companies that have associated with the company’s intention to use poles.

Part of this campaign is to warn other nearby communities, cities, towns and villages what to expect from MS3 Networks (and their ilk in other communities) – news of their shattered reputation locally will spread to an area, regional and even national level. Their company website is at: https://www.ms3networks.co.uk/

This page will also strive to offer information and links to resources for campaigners.

Actions your community can take (this will be updated as MS3 changes its policies and practices yet again):

• Look out for the company’s 28-day notices posted on lampposts in your area.
• Look out and keep any circular that the company posts through your door. While still junk mail, it contains information you need to keep.
• Organise a public meeting or meetings – find out what people actually think! If you are unhappy with the lack of information, consultation, and the prospect of poles suddenly appearing outside your homes and in your streets – get organised like we did in Hedon and Preston and form your own versions of the Going Underground campaign group. We set up our own public Facebook Group.
• Email community-engagement@ms-3.co.uk and ask them what is planned near to your address. They should reply with details of where poles will be deployed near you. When you get your reply, email them again a second time and ask for a map of the wider pole deployment in your community. They won’t send you that as they know that the scale of their pole deployment is upsetting, but ask anyway. Pool the answers you get from MS3 and make your own Google map like Michael Mcloughlin did: https://tinyurl.com/polemap
• Note: On occasions, it appears they use an artificial intelligence-generated chatbot to reply. MS3 have stated: “I must advise that our responses are not generated by AI and we have a dedicated team to manage resident contact.”
• If the pole located near your house is on a narrow path where it would impede prams and wheelchairs; if it is on a private road where you can refuse access, or if it is in a conservation area then contact MS3 networks again by email. Copy in your local councillor (see below) who will be able to inform the East Riding of Yorkshire Council relevant officers of your concerns. If you have any concerns at all about the pole located near your residence, then contact MS3 and your councillors as detailed above.
• MS3 Networks has listed the following as reasons to object to a pole location, again object to MS3 Networks and copy in a councillor:
  • The location of a telecommunications pole impacts upon a person with a disability (we may request proof of disability).
  • The location of a telecommunications pole impacts upon access to a resident’s driveway.
  • A resident has applied for a dropped kerb with the local council and can provide evidence.
  • A telecommunications pole is blocking a road sign.
  • A telecommunications pole is located adjacent to or obstructing a monument.
  • A telecommunications pole is planned or installed on private land without a wayleave.
  • MS3 has started using a new online form to log pole objections. It is best to type up your additional information first, and then copy and paste it into the Any additional comments / information box at: https://www.ms3networks.co.uk/pole-objection

Note: MS3 Networks have totally updated their complaints procedures since the activation of our campaign on September 7 2023. We suspect that prior to this the company was working under woefully inadequate complaints procedures. If you believe a prior complaint may have been mishandled by the company then please email them again and ask for your complaint to be taken to the next level. Share their responses with the Hedon Blog, councillors and social media.

• Petition. Exclude telegraph poles from permitted development legislation is our new petition started 11th October – and this time we are going to take it to national audiences as part of our campaign to change the law which has led to this unintended consequence of “permitted development” – a national blight of largely unwanted, and unnecessary poles. Sign at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/647970
• Boycott. A ten-year boycott means ten years. The period of boycott in the short term will see MS3 Networks and the companies that work with them added to a blacklist of companies in Hedon and Preston. We will seek to expand the number of communities joining that boycott. Nationally, where other companies are adopting the divisive practices of MS3, we will be urging the use of the boycott tactic. In the longer term, we will build our national campaign to highlight the bad practice and total lack of meaningful community engagement of companies, like MS3, in exploiting “permitted development” to make quick profits. Download the Boycott form. If you can’t download, sign and return the Boycott Pledge, an alternative is to use the online version on Google Forms: BOYCOTT. At the time of writing this article, we have over 900 boycott pledges signed.
• Deploying Poles: All works carried out by MS3 Networks pole deployment contractors will (MS3 claim) be carried out to council regulations and HAUC specifications. This will be actively monitored. Keep an eye on the one.network for information on when they are coming to your street and area. If you know they are coming to your neighbourhood, be prepared to film what is going on, particularly how the contractors deal with residents who are unhappy with the appearance of poles or unaware of their arrival. Keep Hedon Blog and Going Underground campaigners informed. Send us your videos, photos and stories!
• Cheaper and accessible broadband. Throughout all this, the need to get internet access to those without, and the desire to improve services and reduce their costs has been overlooked by MS3. Going Underground is not against the idea of competition in the broadband market, rather it seeks providers to engage with communities on this issue, rather than step over them like MS3 has done.

Contact your councillors for South West Holderness (Hedon, Preston, Paull, Thorngumbald):

	Councillor John Dennis (Conservative) Calegarth, Ivy Lane Hedon HU12 8BL 01482 899214 E-mail: councillor.dennis@eastriding.gov.uk Email (Personal): johnpauldennis1@gmail.com	Conservative
	Councillor Steve Gallant (Labour) The Old Vicarage Ivy Lane Hedon HU12 8BL E-Mail: councillor.gallant@eastriding.gov.uk E-mail (Personal): stevegallant@btinternet.com	Labour
	Councillor Sue Steel (Conservative) The Willows Ivy Lane Hedon HU12 8BL Mobile Number: 07754 298952 Email: councillor.steel@eastriding.gov.uk	Conservative

Keep Hedon Blog informed. Send us your videos, photos and stories, and help add to this resources page, and help the campaign locally and across the country. Contact by email: rayduffill@hedonblog.co.uk