Recently, without warning, enormous telegraph poles were installed outside our house by internet provider Brsk. We already have BT and Virgin cables running underground. The council told me there was nothing it could do because telegraph poles come under “permitted development” rules. Ten days later we received a letter informing us that we would be invited to give feedback about an upcoming installation of poles! One of them is right outside our bedroom window, with wires criss-crossing the view that inspired us to buy our house. Do we not have a right to see the sky?
AC, Rossendale, Lancashire
It will come as a surprise to many that telegraph poles do not need planning permission, and councils and residents are, indeed, powerless to stop them. Brsk, founded in 2020, regards itself as a knight in shining armour riding to our rescue. “British broadband is broken, and we’re on a mission to fix it,” boasts its website. It aims to connect a million households around Manchester and the Midlands by 2025.
