Freedom Fibre / telegraph poles – update 27th November
Freedom Fibre (FF)
FF held a Teams meeting in May for local councils, MPs and CWAC Councillors. The invitation email was sent to the Parish Clerk in April but due to incorrect spelling of Comberbach this was not received. The invitation was also sent to the Chairman and Vice Chairman. The e mail detailed the plan for full fibre but Comberbach was not included in the outline map. The Parish Council like many other Parish Councils did not log onto the May Teams presentation
The Parish Council received a copy of the slides on 24th May but the slides could not be circulated as they were marked “Private & Confidential and Commercially Sensitive.”
The slide information showed that Freedom Fibre would engage with the local community including sending letters to residents who may be affected by any groundworks. It confirmed that wherever possible they would utilise the Openreach underground network.
The Parish Council posted on the web site on 23 July the Freedom Fibre details as well in the Village News
On 31st October notices were posted to lampposts in areas where telegraph poles were to be erected under Section 5 Notice of Permitted Development, without any engagement with residents
The Parish Council wrote to Freedom Fibre and they agreed to hold a meeting which was held on 17th November.
FF confirmed that they thought letters had been sent out on 19th July, but when faced with residents denying having received any letter from Freedom Fibre, they admitted that the letters must not have been posted to residents in Comberbach regarding the erection of telegraph poles. Freedom Fibre also confirmed at the meeting that the Openreach infrastructure did not support underground connectivity due to the ducting being not built or damaged beyond repair.
They confirmed at the meeting that they would not progress the pole installation and put on hold until they had investigated further a rod and rope examination and also to provide any costs for repairing the Openreach network.
At the meeting they also confirmed that if sufficient residents did not support the project, they would withdraw the proposed installation of telegraph poles. The Locke estate at Barnton was noted where they have withdrawn their support due to residents not supporting the project and stating that their current broadband supplier contract and speeds were acceptable for their needs.
On 24th November the Parish Council has written again to Freedom Fibre to ascertain what investigations have taken place to utilise the Openreach ducting. Once a response is received the Parish Council will provide a further update.
In confirmation the Parish Council has never received any information from Freedom Fibre regarding the plans to erect telegraph poles or their proposed siting and had not been directly involved in any meeting or communication until the meeting of 17th November.
