Kenstella Road Residents Furious Over New 11 Metre BT Telegraph Pole

Telegraph poles have been a part of the United Kingdom’s street landscape for as long as we can remember. But that hasn’t stopped an outpouring of anger from local residents after BT decided to erect a new 11 metre high pole along one side of Kenstella Road in Newlyn (Cornwall, England) to help improve broadband speeds.

According to This is Cornwall, more than a dozen Kenstella Road residents were “flabbergasted” and have complained to BT’s CEO after the pole suddenly appeared two weeks ago and without any prior consultation. The cul-de-sac overlooks a previously unbroken view of the sea (assuming you can ignore the other local houses and small port in front of that).

One local resident, Zed Sinicki, now fears for the value of their property. “When this pole is rigged and wired it is certain to be a blot on our area. It will reduce the value of our property and reduce the beauty of our views,” said Zed. Mr Sinicki also notes that wheelchair access may now be harder given the slight 6″ reduction in pavement width.

A BT Spokesperson said:

“BT has rights in law to erect telephone poles in the public highway in order that the phone and broadband needs of local communities can be met promptly and efficiently,” he said. In this case, the pole has been installed to provide improved broadband services for local households.

In view of concerns raised by a local resident, our engineers revisited the site and are satisfied that the pole is in the best location. It meets all the necessary guidelines and should not create any problems for people using a wheelchair or a pushchair.”

The article fails to make clear precisely how BT intends to use the pole and some separate reports suggest that in may in fact only have been setup to act as a form of wireless broadband hub, which would mean that there won’t be a requirement for a lot of new wires to crisscross local views.

Similarly most people live in locations where such poles are normal and it could thus be argued that the improvement in local broadband connectivity might ultimately outweigh any perceived loss of value. But in fairness this is very difficult to judge.

Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that BT has suffered a public backlash as a result of installing new infrastructure to improve local connectivity, although such frustrations are usually directed towards the operators green FTTC street cabinets rather than telegraph poles. Oh what would the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society say about all this (yes.. it does exist! We found it on Google).