A resident is unhappy with a series of 'unsightly' telegraph poles which are being erected in the town as part of a broadband upgrade. 

John Fowler, who lives in Clareshom Close in Oakham, says there was no advance consultation by BT Openreach about the poles which are currently going up in his street and other areas. 

Under permitted development rights the company does not need permission to install its infrastructure but must give notice to the local authority.   

Mr Fowler said the poles are a 'cheap and 'retrograde' step. 

He said: "Much of this area was built in the 1980s and was serviced by an underground network of copper wires with no need for unsightly telegraph poles. 

"With no advance consultation Openreach on behalf of BT have decided to install poles to facilitate the rollout of BT fibre broadband. It's good news about this roll out but not using unsightly poles. Indeed, many European countries such as Spain and Finland have banned overhead poles for such installations, insisting they go underground."

Mr Fowler said that last year rival broadband provider Gigaclear laid an underground network in the town and questioned why BT could not use this network.  

He has taken his complaint to the Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns (Con) and the local authority. 

The MP took up his case and was told in an email from the telecoms company:  "Unfortunately a lot of the properties in the Oakham exchange area are cabled direct in the ground without any ducting, so we're unable to provide the fibre network underground, therefore to include these properties in the upgrade of our network to full fibre we would look to carry out some additional infrastructure work, i.e., install new poles like we did here. 

"At the start of our plans to build full fibre in the Oakham exchange area, we had a meeting with the highway's authority and the local council. We outlined our plans and shared our concerns, so they are aware and happy with our continued plan to deliver the full fibre. All poles have been legally noticed, providing the 28 days noticing period." 

BT Openreach said: "Under permitted development planning laws, telecoms companies can legally install poles in the highway without needing a specific consent from the local highway authority. They must give the relevant council 28 days' notice of their intention to install a pole, and they're required to advertise that intention in the vicinity of the site, usually via a site notice. 

"Wherever possible, we use existing infrastructure (poles and ducts) while building full fibre.  We're aware of the visual impact our equipment can have and the balance between cost effectiveness, aesthetics and safety can be difficult to achieve. As a result, there are times when we simply cannot avoid erecting poles to provide services efficiently, safely and in a sound engineering manner. 

"We have the largest network infrastructure in the UK – so in most cases we're able to use what is already there. 

"Gigaclear operate an entirely independent network, and they don't provide open access i.e. allowing other network providers to use share their infrastructure. 

"Our network does provide open access, or physical infrastructure access (PIA) however, which means other providers can use our ducts and poles to install their own cables, which helps to avoid the further building of new poles by other operators. Our PIA supports over 900k customer connections by over 100 alternative network operators (including Gigaclear)." 

Gigaclear states on its website that it does partner with some other providers, although BT Openreach is not on that list. 

The company said there is a process for people to follow if they have an issue with where a pole is place and can find details on its website. 

A spokesperson for Rutland County Council said: "Under national planning laws, companies have a statutory right to upgrade and repair telecoms poles without council permission. However, following a complaint about the location of one of the erected poles, our officers did meet with the company to go over locations and a review was undertaken by them. 

"We are aware that Outreach also erected public notices in the area 28 days prior to work. We would advise residents that have any questions or concerns about a pole near their property, to please contact the telecom company direct."