Judge reviews village broadband pole decision

A judge has heard arguments over whether a council's decision to install large broadband poles in a village was lawful.

Residents launched the legal challenge against Wychavon District Council, claiming they were not consulted properly.

Twenty two poles, some 11m (36ft) tall, were placed outside homes on The Sands estate in Broadway, Worcestershire, last November, leading to street protests and one man going to hospital.

Judge Richard Kimblin KC, sitting at the High Court in Birmingham, will make a decision at a later date.

Gabriel Nelson, representing the residents at the High Court in Birmingham on Tuesday, said they were not consulted properly.

Residents have described the poles as a "monstrosity", but provider Full Fibre Limited said at the time it had worked hard to respond to all concerns and to highlight the importance of the work.

The firm had permitted development rights to install the poles, but Gabriel Nelson, representing the residents, told the court: “There’s an explicit requirement to consult - but they weren’t in a ‘consultation’ stage, they were in a ‘notification’ stage.”

He told the judge the poles had “ruined the visual impact” of the estate and not enough was done to ask people for their views beforehand.

He also said the possibility of putting the cables underground was “left unresolved and open-ended”, despite many residents asking for that as an alternative.

“We would submit that the council got this wrong,” he said.

Jack Smyth, representing the council, said installing them underground would be much more expensive and that permitted development rights to erect poles meant detailed planning permission did not need to be obtained.

Wychavon District Council risked being appealed against, and losing, if Full Fibre Limited were refused permission to do the work, he added.

Residents have managed to raise thousands of pounds to organise the review.

Amanda Gray from the Lifford Gardens and Sands Residents Association, said she was happy with what their barrister said.

"It's been massive effort to get this far," she said.

"Not many people get permission for judicial reviews, so the fact that we're here is already a win - regardless of the outcome it is a win already."

She has a pole outside her living room window which she said was a daily reminder of the injustice.

Full Fibre Limited has been contacted by the BBC for a response to Tuesday's hearing but has not yet responded.

It has previously said the review was between residents and the council and it was merely an interested party, but not explicitly part of the hearing.

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