‘Eyesore’ mast back again just eight months after being torn down

An ‘eyesore’ mast has returned just eight months after a telecoms company was told to tear it down.

In October 2023, IX Wireless received complaints after they installed a huge pole right next to a house on Clarendon Street in Rochdale. When the council ordered IX Wireless to rip down the structure, many locals thought that was the end of the saga – until workers arrived last Thursday.
 

Read more: ‘Unacceptable’: Demand broadband masts are taken down in RochdalePublished: 01 November 2023

Just where the old mast was installed less than a year ago, construction workers put fencing around as they erected a new mast of a slightly different colour, residents have reported.

Alan Chadwick, who lives across the road from what he calls an “unsightly monster”, believes it’s unacceptable to have it there. He understands there is a need for better phone connectivity, and these masts are there to do that, but he explained this one is simply too close to the house.

“Last Thursday workers came in, started digging, and put the new one up,” the 70-year-old told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. “The old lady across the road is 77 and lives right next to it.

“The work made her house shake, it could’ve damaged her home. Looking at the Residents against IX Wireless Facebook Page, there are lots of residents, not just here, against them.

“The only fighting chance we have of getting it taken down is that it’s too close to the house. This is unsightly and there is graffiti all over the cabinets that go with it already.

“The mast shouldn’t be there, it’s an eyesore. The workers were cheeky as well, they told the old lady (when she went out to speak to them) that ‘at least you’ve got a painted one this time’, as the last one was steel.”

Alan believes the mast could be taken down on the grounds that if work needed to be done to the end of terrace property next to the mast, it could prevent that being done.

In response to the latest development in the saga and the unwelcome from locals, a spokesperson for IX Wireless said: “I want to confirm that all permits are in place for the siting of the pole.

“We continue to engage and work with local residents. As part of this engagement and discussions with local residents we took the decision to remove the initial pole due to its close proximity to the roof of the property.

“The pole has since been reinstated away from the roof. The pole has also been specially painted to contribute to the overall aesthetic appeal of the local area.”

 

 

IX Wireless was launched in 2017 with the aim of providing internet connection to towns across the north west and beyond. The company said its masts are compliant with planning permission requirements.

Councillor Neil Emmott, leader of Rochdale Council, has previously written to Ofcom directly expressing his own concerns about IX’s approach to this. Back in October, the council claimed to have identified a number of masts deemed to have an unacceptable impact on the areas they were constructed.

Rochdale Council has been contacted for comment.

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter