Salford residents are in a stand-off with an internet provider over the erection of 15-metre mast on their streets.
Back in December, planning permission for six high-speed internet masts was refused after hundreds of Salfordians objected.
However, due to a national legislation, the company, IX Wireless are able to build the masts without the need to submit a planning application.
A spokesperson for the council says they while they fully understand residents anger, national law 'is not on the side of residents or local councils' regarding the issue.
Nicoletta Lane was one of the objectors of the mast and was one of the many who attended the council meeting back in December.
On Tuesday (February 23) workers were sent to her house by IX Wireless to survey the area in preparation to build the pole which would be placed directly next to her home on Woodsmoor Road in Swinton.
Nicoletta says she confronted the workmen and protested against the work being carried out for the pole which she described as 'monstrosity'.
She says she had been on 'standby' for IX Wireless to appear outside her home ever since a notice was placed on a lamppost near house regarding their plans.
Nicoletta along with other residents say they are angered the company's decision to erect the poles despite planning permission being refused and that there are safety fears regarding the technology and the effect on property value in their neighbourhood.
She said: "It's quite shocking that they can just turn up, the value of my property and everybody's property is going to go down. I don't understand that if something has been refused, that they can just turn up.
"This is all wrong. On the East Lancs roads, there are so many fields there, put it all there if you want to, not in residential areas. What we're concerned about is our health, it's right next to my house and it's going to decrease the property value, there's lots of concerns.
"The whole neighbourhood is against it. We're just normal working class people who have worked years and years and lived by the rules of the land and now IX and the council are not reflecting the same respect.
"There is so much about this that absolutely stinks."
Under national law, companies are able to install poles to run fibre optic cables through and provide broadband to homes without permission from the local authority.
They would only need to submit a planning application if they were to add an antennae to the pole for wireless transmission.
Last year, IX Wireless made it clear to the council that they would erect the poles and opt for a wired connection to homes if their planning permission was refused.
Carol Boyce was another member of the public who attended the planning meeting back in December.
As the chair of local group Saving Our Neighbourhood, she has been protesting the erection of a mast on Campbell Road also in Swinton.
She shares the same worries of safety as Nicoletta and believes that the poles are a 'placeholder' for 5G technology.
IX Wireless say that they are building a broadband home network and are not linked to 5G technology.
"IX say they're going to erect a mast literally one metre from a house on the street, we sent 80 objections." She said.
"We went down to the council meeting, we had local councillors support us. Their idea is, if you put an antennae on top of this mast, you have to have planning permission, if you take the antenna off and just put a 15-metre mast then you don't need planning permission.
"That's old school technology, why would you do that? Why would you put a 15-metre mast up when you're only going to use 8 metres of it? Why?"
Dean Lane who is also in opposition of the masts says, while he has no objections to 5G technology, he does not see the need for another internet provider in the area using 'yesterday's technology'.
Dean told the MEN: " I have a different stance on this, I'm not anti-5G. They tell us that this is a great system and it's going to be cheap internet, but they're offering 1GB and I think the best you can get on BT is 200GB, so they're yesterday's technology.
"What they presented to the council was not really viable, and they said if they don't get permission for the antennae section they'll just build the mast anyway so that was a bit of a two fingers to the council.
"The council should be able to say there's brownfield site here, and they should be able to build one over there. It's unnecessary, if you saw the chaos that these storms and winds have caused in the last six months why are you installing overhead cables if everything is underground?"
Councillor Mike McCusker, lead member for planning and sustainable neighbourhoods on Salford council, said: “I fully understand residents’ anger about these unwanted intrusions in their community. Unfortunately, national planning law is not on the side of residents or local councils in this.
“If the company installs a pole to run fibre optic cable from it to nearby homes (like an old-fashioned telegraph pole with phone wires) by law they don’t even need to ask their local authority’s permission.
"The government’s rule is that this is permitted development to maintain the phone and internet network. This pole can be up to 15 metres high.
“If the company wants to add an antennae to the pole for wireless transmission, it is then classed as a mast and they must ask for prior approval permission from the local council before installing it. This is not the same as planning permission.
“Last year IX applied for prior approval permission for 21 masts across the city, making it clear that if permission was refused, they would go ahead with poles as the law allows.
“Salford City Council’s planning panel took account of the huge volume of objections from residents and rejected six of these masts – including this one. The rest were refused by planning officers under delegated powers.
"It is now very disappointing and frustrating to see the company is going ahead regardless of residents’ feelings and installing poles (minus the antennae).”
Swinton ward councillor Stuart Dickman shares the same the resident's frustrations and says the government need to stop making 'loopholes' for big businesses and 'give back power to communities and councils.'
He said: "The community, councillors and our MP came together to fight the proposals for these unnecessary masts, that would provide inferior broadband to homes who already have access to ultrafast internet, and just clutter our streets.
He added: "Salford City Council and the community have already given an emphatic no to IX, but until the government stop making loopholes for big businesses, and give back power to communities and councils who know what’s best for them, we may sadly see more of this to come."
IX Wireless have been contacted for comment.
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