An ‘epidemic’ of ‘unsightly’ telegraph poles across Salford has prompted a furious city councillor to demand action from the Local Government Association, which represents councils across England and Wales. Members of the city’s planning and transportation regulatory panel were furious that they are powerless to prevent the poles being erected by technology companies at random locations outside homes. Under current legislation, planning permission is not required for the poles to be put up.
Coun John Warmisham called the ad hoc way in which posts can be erected as ‘scandalous’. However, the issue came up as EE and Hutchison 3G UK Ltd applied for permission to retain a 24-metre-high mast on council-owned land off Kenyon Way in Little Hulton.
The mast was installed in January 2021 under an ‘emergency notice’ issued to Salford city council under the Town and Country Planning Act and lasted for 18 months. Although permission to extend the period for a further 12 months, councillors voiced their frustration at their latest panel meeting.
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Coun John Warmisham said: “There should be work going on with the Local Government Association (LGA) over this. It’s scandalous. The street scenes with the masts are disgusting.”
His Labour colleague Coun James Dawson said of the mast at Kenyon Way: “This looks awful.” And he alluded to a generator which kicks in to charge the batteries of the mast at regular intervals, which was ‘not sustainable’, he said.
“Whatever powers there are we have to come down on this. With the generator spewing out fumes, it’s putting people’s health at risk.” However, chair Coun Ray Mashiter said: “We can’t put the world right.”
Speaking after the meeting Coun Philip Cusack told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “There are poles springing up all over the place. One was put right in front of the bedroom window of one woman’s house and there is nothing we can do about it,” he said.
“One was put outside another house where the owner was about to have a disabled ramp put in, but the pole prevented this from happening. It’s an epidemic of masts and it's appalling.”
Coun Bob Clarke raged: “The poles are an eyesore and they attract graffiti. They take up space and public realm.
“These poles are destroying our visual landscape. We should be reducing the amount of clutter on our streets, not increasing it.”
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