Openreach overhead wires

[Jvh2012]

Could anybody offer any advice please? We have just bought a plot and have stupidly only just noticed the overhead wires travelling from a pole outside of our plot are possibly going to affect our build. There are five wire travelling to properties over our land which used to be a large garden/orchard before we bought it. Where do we stand in relation to asking openreach to move them? There is no wayleave on our deeds but from research im not sure they need one? There is a lot of conflicting information online. The wires don’t benefit our land at all just the properties to the north of our land whereby the lines are connected to the rear of their properties, I have checked and there are no poles on the main road to connect the properties to. Realistically I would be happy if the pole was moved a few metres Down the road if that’s all that could be done. 

[nod]

We have friends who have bought a plot The wires would have run past there back door on there new home 

There is a poll pictured to the right and one out of shot to the left 

While the poll to the left will remain 

The poll pictured will go and the wires will run underground across the bottom of there garden 

All this was sorted out over lockdown 

No idea of cost 

But doable 

[Bozza]

12 hours ago, Jvh2012 said:

Could anybody offer any advice please? We have just bought a plot and have stupidly only just noticed the overhead wires travelling from a pole outside of our plot are possibly going to affect our build. There are five wire travelling to properties over our land which used to be a large garden/orchard before we bought it. Where do we stand in relation to asking openreach to move them? There is no wayleave on our deeds but from research im not sure they need one? There is a lot of conflicting information online. The wires don’t benefit our land at all just the properties to the north of our land whereby the lines are connected to the rear of their properties, I have checked and there are no poles on the main road to connect the properties to. Realistically I would be happy if the pole was moved a few metres Down the road if that’s all that could be done. 

Is the pole exclusively carrying phone lines, or does it carry electricity too?

I had a third party phone line across my plot.  Openreach were an utter nightmare to deal with.  Fortunately the phone line was carried on an electricity pole.  When I got SSE to move their pole (fair price/good service) they told Openreach to remove the line and run it via another route.  No cost to me.

 

From your post it appears there are no poles on your land just the phone wires going across.  Openreach have a statutory rights under the telecoms act, I recall reading that legislation in detail and they provide a lot of power to the likes of Openreach far more than to the landowners (you).    To quote openreach when dealing with me :  “The absence of a wayleave doesn't mean that we have no legitimate right to be there as our apparatus is afforded statutory protection under the Electronic Communications Code (Schedule 2, Transitional Provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2017 and will, in most cases, be providing service to the local residents and businesses.”

 

You’ll find Openreach will move the pole/lines off your property, but you’ll have to pay for it.   The legislation does provide rights for a landowner to require them to remove their equipment but for very specific reasons.  The fact that you don’t like them their wouldn’t be enough and remember they’ll have a whole dept including lawyers to represent them.   You need to read that legislation to familiarise yourself.

 

So if exclusively phone lines/pole you’ll find you may have to live with them, or pay to be relocated.  If it’s just one pole they need to relocate I think you’ll find it’ll be worth your while just to pay that cost as part of your build cost.  Make sure you get that line removal detailed in your PP so the work can be zero rated.  

 

You may find others here say “just cut the wires” etc, that would of course be entirely illegal.  Unfortunately as I say Openreach have more rights than you, the law is very much in their favour.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Bozza

[Temp]

12 hours ago, Jvh2012 said:

There are five wire travelling to properties over our land

 

The details can make a difference but typical cost is £300 for a survey/quote and perhaps £2000 to do the work. However it might not be possible to find a location where the new pole can see the same points on all five houses.

 

You should ask them to quote to provide your own connection at same time. 

 

If the pole is near your boundary you could consider running an underground cable to the pole so you dont have an overhead to your house. Then you can choose where the master socket goes, where to put your modem etc. 

 

If the work is necessary to allow your house to be built then I believe they should zero rate the work to you. See VAT notice 708. That would only be if you already have planning permission fir your house. 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Temp

[Temp]

Also worth mentioning that poles can affect visibility splays so mark your driveway and visibility splay on any plans you give openreach if that's an issue.

[Bitpipe]

We had a similarish challenge - long drop wire from pole across road to our previous house that we needed to demolish. We got OR (via BT) to initially move the wire to a container at the site perimeter and when the house was complete we got a quote to take it underground to the site perimeter vs another drop wire - we obv. put in all the ducting on our side.

 

OR survey guy said he'd produce a quote but recommended doing our own street crossing and pulling our own cable through and leaving it at the base of the pole. When they came to do the connection, they just made the join either end as part of their standard fee. Saved about £3k doing that.

 

SO - you may be able to negotiate similar - if you trench and run suitable duct (grey BT spec) from pole to pole and then pull suitable cable through, you should be able to negotiate down the fee. OR may insist on using their own cable but its the trenching that will really cost you money as they use a 3rd party for this and they charge by the metre. You can also ensure the trenching follows a route that suits your build.

 

+1 for avoiding wire 'accidents' - it's a risky enough strategy when you're the only person at the other end but if you disconnect 5 neighbours then you'll be in very hot water.

[Jvh2012]

Ok so my dad has been to the site today (ex Bt engineer from many years ago) and reckons they can just move 3 of the cable to the pole further down the road and that would be enough . Does anybody have any experience of this and what the cost might be?