Exclude Telegraph Poles from Permitted Development – over 10,000 signatures on Parliamentary petition.
Campaigners are delighted that the Parliamentary UK national petition to exclude telegraph poles from permitted development legislation has been supported by 10,000 online signatures. The milestone figure of ten thousand was met last night at 9.25pm (Thurs, April 4 2024) which means that the government will formally respond to the petitioners.
There is no illusion that any response from the government will provide any crumbs of comfort to local campaigners. They know the response will be; “This Government believe the rights, duties and obligations contained in the existing legal framework promote efficient deployment.” There will be talk recognising unacceptable breaches in the government’s framework legislation taking place, and that infrastructure sharing is being encouraged. Yet, local authorities are powerless to deny the actions of these alternative-network (AltNet) builders who have been granted special code powers by the regulator Ofcom to act as they do, so telegraph pole deployment continues. The overbuild of surplus street furniture continues. The constant breaching of health and safety laws by AltNets continues daily.
Julie Dervey from the Going Underground campaign group responded with initial delight at the 10,000 milestone being reached, but then the reality kicked in:
“I’m appalled at Central Government’s and Minister Lopez’s abject disregard for communities, not just in East Yorkshire, but across the U.K. It seems like campaigners have been intentionally sent around in circles to the various government departments, to different departments within our Local Authorities, to OFCOM, to our MPs, to the Police, Health and Safety Executive, and then back to government departments again.
“Did the Minister intend for campaigners to be ignored over the last two years so that these cowboy code operators can install unwanted infrastructure wherever, whenever, and however they like? If not, she needs to halt all the unwanted broadband installation work now and work out how affected communities can get rid of all this unwanted and unnecessary infrastructure as soon as possible. Minister Lopez needs to listen up and act immediately to halt these works!”
Julie Dervey, Going Underground
Joyce Whittle from the campaign, said:
“The 10,000 signatories on the petition are just the tip of the iceberg, So many voices are being left unheard about this issue, especially those who do not use broadband or social media through personal choice. Many communities are still to be affected by the overbuild of telegraph pole networks. They need to know that their villages, towns and cities will not have to suffer this blight of additional poles on their streets.”
“The government now know that this is an issue of concern nationally, and its response needs to recognise that and consider whether its legislation is having the desired effects in affected communities.”
Joyce Whittle
The reaching of the 10,000 milestone is significant considering the campaign has not yet achieved significant national media coverage. Usually, the popular petitions on the Parliamentary UK Petitions website are driven by stories covered in the national news. However, the nature of anti-telegraph poles campaigns is that they are very localised movements that rarely achieve news attention beyond a regional area, even though there have been so many of them around the country. With the 10,000 milestone now reached, the government must recognise that they have a national problem with their ill-thought-out broadband rollout policy. The consequences of this framework of legislation, whether intentional or unintended, need to be tackled.
What happens next with the petition?
What happens next with the petition which actually closes on April 11? As well as the Response from the government, presumably another statement from Julia Lopez MP the responsible Minister of State, The Petitions Committee can:
- write to the petitioner for more information
- invite them to talk to the Committee in person about your petition – this could be in Parliament or somewhere else in the UK
- ask for evidence from the Government or other relevant people or organisations
- press the government for action
- ask another parliamentary committee to look into the topic raised by a petition
- put forward a petition for debate
- The Petitions Committee is set up by the House of Commons. It comprises up to 11 backbench Members of Parliament from Government and Opposition parties. The number of committee members from each political party is representative of the membership of the House of Commons as a whole.
Meanwhile, once this petition closes, another will be opened, this third one will be fuelled by the actions of new campaigners in other parts of the country who feel similarly outraged by the unnecessary broadband installations.
I’m surprised that local authorities haven’t put their own bye-laws into place to protect against outside interference.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-government-legislation-byelaws#:~:text=The%20local%20authority%20determines%20if,council%20must%20follow%20this%20process.
signed Mrs Rena McCarthy (nee Crum)
email rena.mackenzie@outlook.com
Co-incidence that the majority of signatures are from areas with Kcom who will not share ducts and poles (yet), but the rest of signatures are a handful from every other area of Britain, who dislike poles but openreach infrastructure exists that can be shared. If Kcom shared pia and ofcom wasn’t encouraging wholesale network access to Kcom this wouldn’t be a problem.
We need to stop more poles going up in Hull and surrounding areas. There is infrastructure available but the likes of MS3 and Connexin don’t wany to use it. They are putting poles in stupid places and don’t care about how residents feel. It’s making my sister inlaw poorly but they will not remove it to a more suitable space.
I would like to thank each and every person who took the time to sign this important government petition. It is just a shame those people who choose not to enter the digital world are negatively impacted by not being able to sign the petition and voice their concerns ,, not very democratic
We are under no illusions government still seem to think their legislation “permitted development for telecommunications installations “is fit for purpose .
But how can it be ? with bad operator practise across the UK being lawful in allowing the “unintended consequences “.
Proliferation of telegraph poles and multiple infrastructures allowed ,when they are not required to deliver choice of ISPs . Infrastructure when gigabit capable MUST BE SHARED
Permitted development legislation for telecommunications needs change
Telecommunications code of practise needs urgent review and needs to be mandatory
Ofcom needs the powers to regulate code operators who do not adhere to their code of practise
Local councils need to have the powers to halt unnecessary infrastructure in its residents environments
If these unwanted installations are to be stopped, we need campaigners to contact Minister Lopez, to urge her to halt the unwanted installations immediately.
It is perfectly clear from all of the media coverage which communities are affected and do NOT want this broadband infrastructure (certainly not without meaningful prior public consultation). These are the same areas where rogue operators are side-stepping the relevant Codes of Practice and ignoring communities to make their fast buck. Campaigners want rid of them and their unwanted infrastructure now