Homeowner wins ‘David versus Goliath’ battle over broadband pole at end of drive
A homeowner has won a ‘David vs Goliath’ battle with a broadband supplier which agreed to take down a 40ft-high pole it erected at the end of his drive without consultation.
Philip Waller, 65, went "ballistic" when he came home to find that Connexin had put up the pole just 16 feet (5m) from his living room bay windows.
The grandad-of-ten, from Barnsley, South Yorks., then spent weeks gathering dozens of objection letters from neighbours and lodged complaints with councillors.
And though he was originally rebuffed by the company, Barnsley Council later confirmed it had been put up without “due process” and ordered its removal.
Relieved Philip, who had feared his £300,000 bungalow would be left "worthless" if the pole stayed up, said: “It is a bit of a ‘David and Goliath’ situation.
Philip Waller, 65, went "ballistic" when he came home to find that Connexin had put up the pole just 16 feet (5m) from his living room bay windows.
The grandad-of-ten, from Barnsley, South Yorks., then spent weeks gathering dozens of objection letters from neighbours and lodged complaints with councillors.
And though he was originally rebuffed by the company, Barnsley Council later confirmed it had been put up without “due process” and ordered its removal.
Relieved Philip, who had feared his £300,000 bungalow would be left "worthless" if the pole stayed up, said: “It is a bit of a ‘David and Goliath’ situation.
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FunTranscript
00:00Hi there, I'm Phil Waller, 65 years old.
00:04The dispute is about the location of the Yorkshire Water smart meter reading pole.
00:10It's been sighted in front of my house without a licence.
00:21The company in question connects in, they've totally ignored all my objections and they've
00:27even told lies saying that they had permission and a licence to erect the pole,
00:32which I later found out was incorrect.
00:40My house has probably got a market value of £300,000
00:44and speaking to local people I think it's probably been reduced by £30,000 minimum.
00:50To win this case it's definitely the traditional David and Goliath.
00:54I feel very, very excited that we've come out on top.
00:58Other people encountering a similar position I would advise them not to listen to the people
01:04that have erected the pole because they just try to steamroll over the little guys
01:09and I would take it to your local council.
01:12Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council have been fantastic with all the help in this matter.
01:17I think the government should re-look at their legislation, giving people carte blanche just
01:25to put telegraph poles, wireless transmitters wherever they want without any consultation
01:32to the local people.