Openreach - Moving a Pole

ayrshire_smallholder

I’m building a house on my land and have run into an issue with an Openreach pole route that crosses the plot. I’d appreciate any advice from anyone who has dealt with similar situations.

Openreach currently have four poles crossing my land. One of them (Pole 3) sits directly where the house foundation to go — it’s effectively almost built into the corner of the outbuilding that forms part of the self-build footprint, so leaving it there isn’t possible with the demolition and foundation dig.

The current route runs roughly Pole 2 → Pole 3 → Pole 4, with about 75 m of overhead span between 2 and 4.

Openreach’s proposal is to remove Pole 3 and reroute the cable underground between Pole 2 and Pole 4. Their design involves a 105 m trench around the edge of site.

Under their proposal I would be doing the civil work myself — digging the trench, laying the duct/conduit and installing the access chambers, and then Openreach would pull the cable through the duct and reconnect the network.

A few other details that might be relevant:
- Poles 2, 3 and 4 are marked “condemned for climbing.” Because of that, Openreach engineers cannot climb them to attach or reconnect cables, so they would need to be replaced as part of this work anyway.
- The line serves one property beyond my land.
- I personally don’t require an Openreach connection as I use Starlink due to rural nature and slow broadband.
- There is no wayleave agreement for the poles on my land.
- Openreach have quoted £8,821.54 (exc VAT) for the diversion.
- Despite the quote, I would still be digging the trench, laying the conduit and installing the access points myself.

Another concern is timing. This has already been dragging on for around 8 months, and I really need to start the build soon as planning permission expires later this summer.

I’m trying to understand whether this quote and approach is typical. From my perspective it feels quite expensive given the change is essentially removing one pole inside the build footprint and rerouting the cable around the property, particularly when I’m providing the trench, duct and chambers — and when the neighbouring poles appear to need replacing anyway.

I’m also unsure how the lack of a wayleave affects things, especially since the proposed diversion would require a new underground route across my land.
Has anyone dealt with a similar Openreach diversion during a self-build? I’d be interested to hear:
- whether the price sounds reasonable
- whether Openreach normally negotiate on diversion costs
- whether the lack of a wayleave gives any leverage
- or if there are alternative solutions I should be asking them to consider

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

poppasmurf_bewdley

"Any advice or experiences would be appreciated"

It certainly is needed. See a solicitor, especially as you've left it so long since planning permission was given.

ayrshire_smallholder

The solicitor advises that it would take around 12-18mths to reach a resolution, which is useless.

Its actually 12mths since I initially contacted them, and 8mths since action started being taken.

In hindsight I wish I approached with the angle that their pole was preventing access and maintenance of the building, rather than inhibiting a new build. I feel with that information they are being deliberately awkward and costly.

Bigphil1474

Can you not look into extending the planning permission?

ayrshire_smallholder

This is the letter I've sent them again.


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing further regarding the Openreach pole on my land, located immediately beside the existing building at the above address.

I have now received a quotation for diverting the pole via an underground trench, which I understand has been priced as a full diversion of the network. However, I do not believe this reflects the actual situation on site. In practical terms, once all associated costs are considered, this is costing over £10,000 to route a cable around an existing building. That appears wholly disproportionate, particularly when, as per the quote, I would be carrying out the civil works of the project myself.

For comparison, comparable recent work at this property with SP Energy Networks, involving the re-routing of live electric cables via trench and relocation of an existing meter, is costing around £1,000, again with the associated civil works being undertaken by myself. I appreciate these are different utilities with different standards, processes and charging models, but even allowing for those differences, the scale of your quotation appears disproportionate to the works involved.

The pole currently sits approximately 40cm from the wall of the existing brick building and materially restricts access. The use of ladders and scaffolding is restricted by its location and works such as re-roofing, replacing roof trusses, or indeed demolition would be difficult because of the proximity of both the pole and the overhead cable. Regardless of the building’s eventual status, I do not think it is a reasonable situation for a permanent structure which pre-dates the poles.

I also wish to point out that there is no wayleave in place for these poles, and the pole has been marked with a red “D” for some time. As I understand it, this means it is in a decayed, condemned for climbing, and due for replacement, albeit it is still usable as a cable carrier. If replacement is already required, it does not seem reasonable for it simply to be replaced in the same unsuitable position.

This is not a constrained urban location. The building is relatively isolated and surrounded by ample space, and the pole could readily be moved some distance in almost any direction. Whatever the reasons may have been when the line was originally installed decades ago, I do not believe any engineer would now design a network with a pole positioned so close to a brick building and cables passing directly over the roof where there is clearly sufficient space to arrange it more appropriately.

I am not disputing that altering infrastructure carries a cost. However, I do not think it is fair or reasonable for this to be treated purely as a customer-funded diversion when the existing pole is both due for replacement and positioned in a way that restricts the normal use and maintenance of an existing building. I also do not have a connection to the telephone network, so the poles do not currently provide any benefit to me.

I would ask that this is reviewed again as part of the pole’s replacement, with consideration given either to re-siting it nearby or, as discussed, routing the cable by underground trench around the affected section, rather than treating it as a full diversion at my expense.

Yours faithfully,

ayrshire_smallholder

We cou

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81929210#Comment_81929210

Obviously we are already on it, but it comes with costs. Delayed build, losing contractor slots, and all the knock-on disruption that brings.

What has made it worse is how poor Openreach have been to deal with compared with SP Energy Networks, who were absolutely fine on the electricity side and seemed perfectly reasonable throughout.

Every time you deal with Openreach, it feels like you are asking them to do something under duress. They are not proactive at all and do not seem interested in helping. Everything feels buried under layers of bureaucracy, departments and poor communication. Even simple things become more awkward than they need to be. For example, the front-end team dealing with pole moves being based in India just adds another layer of complication when you are trying to explain a very specific issue affecting a site in rural Scotland. Trying to get through to somebody that knows and understands the locality….. well it may well be easier to contact God himself.

To be fair when we did eventually get an engineer to the site, he was sympathetic. The brow beaten, close to retirement type, and had stopped caring type. He can't formally tell me his opinion, but he can tell me his opinion without saying it…. if you get what I mean.

We are now eight months into the formal process and have only just been issued a quote. My initial enquiry was made almost exactly a year ago, and at no point did I think that something raised that far in advance could still be unresolved and potentially delaying this project. The whole process has been painfully slow, opaque and frustrating.

It now feels like we are being backed into a corner: either pay up on what looks like an unreasonable quote, or accept delaying the build by another year, with all the extra cost and disruption that comes with that.

Eldi_Dos

@ayrshire_smallholder

A 'D' does not mean it is decayed and due for renewal

What it generally means is that it has not passed one of the criteria to enable a engineer to climb the pole using a ladder, poles with a 'D' label on them can stand for decades.

The normal procedure if access is needed would be a cherrypicker, but if the utility themselves do not need access to it normally no action would be taken.

brianposter

Openreach appear to be hopeless in such circumstances and the price quoted appears to be ridiculous - so ridiculous that you might try contacting your MP.

However they do have ladders for climbing unsafe poles so if you make enough fuss that problem is soluble. We had such a problem and after six months they installed a new line on the "unsafe" pole.

Is there any scope for simply pushing the pole over ?

Eldi_Dos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81964481#Comment_81964481

I would be very interested if you could provide details of these ladders, they would certainly be a game changer.

Judging from the photo the possible problem could be unauthorised attachments to the pole rather than a fault with the pole itself.

brianposter

Sorry, I cannot provide any details as I was not present when it was used. I was told that the ladder was brought from some 100 miles away and accompanied by a specially authorised ladder climber.

Quite ridiculous not to have a ladder nearby when there are hundreds of poles rotting in the peat !

marcia_

when builders were still onsite building new homes behind ours they accidentally on purpose knocked down an openreach pole whilst moving a digger around. The only person it served had no phone for a couple of weeks while openreach set up underground wires for that property.