Telegraph pole stay

[Mike Barnes]

Possibly DIY, possibly not. :-)

There's a BT telegraph pole adjacent to my house. It is supported by a stay which is anchored on my land. The anchor is in the middle of an area that I want to use for wheelie bins.

Photo:

Close-up:

I'd like the anchor moved back away from the road, as close as possible to the wall, to make way for the wheelie bin park. The ground level would be dropped a few inches as well.

The pole was replaced about 15 years ago. BT didn't ask us whether they could put that stay there, they just went and did it. They could be forgiven for assuming that that land was part of the public highway, but it isn't. They aren't making any wayleave payments. We didn't take much notice in the past because this was just a piece of waste land as far we were concerned, but now we've got a sizeable collection of wheelie bins it's suddenly become useful.

So, does anyone know what's underneath there? Is there any experience or knowledge in the group concerning the procedure for getting such an anchor moved?

[Jim K]

AIUI Bt don't need wayleaves nor do they pay for poles etc.

Elec companies do.

Expect a phenomenal "quote" for them to do it

Jim K

[The Natural Philosopher]

Or do it yourself and look puzzled if anyone mentions it. I mean what is involved beyond a big hole full of concrete with a screw eye embedded in it and some cable and a tensioner any ships chandler will sell you...

[Adrian]

They certainly do - provided it supplies other premises. If it's just you, they don't.

If the pole's also electricity, then the electric wayleave covers it.

They don't even use concrete. We've had a couple of new poles installed by Western Power this week - the stay bases are buried about 2m down. THe end has a plate on it, and is slotted through a hole in a ~2m length of thick wood or resin (think thin railway sleeper, and you're not far off).

Big deep hole dug, lob the base down, backfill. Job jobbed.

One of the poles (12m, 400kg of transformer hanging from it) went down a hole dug with a JCB bucket. The other (10m, just wires) went down a hole drilled with an augur on a minidigger. Both had about 2m underground. Again, no concrete. The old poles they removed (installed 1960s) didn't have any concrete, either - they were just wiggled then yanked out with a JCB.

[Jim K]

cherry picker possibly, wrangling thick cables definitely, Fing it up and/or getting rumbled - probably...

mmm take some pics (but digitise your face if you post em up ;>)))

Jim K

[Steve]

Mike Barnes brought next idea :

This is the type of thing BT use

but BT ones are about 5ft long - so no, they won't move it over a few inches for you, or if they do, be prepared for a *very* big bill!

[stuart noble]

They moved a pole for us when it would have been in the way of scaffolding I was considering. No argument, and it took them an hour at most. Certainly not a d-i-y job

[Peter Crosland]

The first thing is to ask BT. The following number is for reporting damage to BT plant but I am sure they can tell you who to contact.

0800 0232023

[Mike Barnes]

It does supply other premises.

It isn't also electricity. The electricity pole can also be seen in the photo. Its predecessor had a stay in our garden, but the current one doesn't. We get still wayleave payments, though. :-)

I'm puzzled by the logic of having just one stay on the telegraph pole. The pull from the phone cables is pretty symmetrical and it seems odd to restrain the pole in only one direction.

[Dave Liquorice]

Are you 100% sure that your boundary is the edge of the road? Looking at the GV I'd assume that the boundary is the face of the wall/gate pillar, that appears to align with the hedge row, leaving a verge along the road.

The cobbles and edging don't mean that bit of land is yours it's no different to a droppped kerb and access slope across the public pavement in an urban area.

As others have said if the poles only serves you expect a large bill if it serves others probably no bill *if* the agree to move/remove it.

[Brian Gaff]

You missed the trick of sabotage during the bad storms then.

Brian

[Mike Barnes]

Not 100%, no, but I don't know how you'd determine that with complete accuracy and reliability. FWIW the cobbles you see at bottom left are continuous all the way across the front of the property, and well behind the wall - but they're not ancient.

One of the reasons for contemplating a DIY solution is to avoid opening that particular can of worms.

[Jim K]

Peter Crosland

Has provided the answer (perhaps unwillingly)...y

...Angle grinder!!

Jim K

[Jim K]

Doh unwillingly = unwittingly

Feckin smart phones grrr

Jim K

[Tim Lamb]

The usual assumption by BT is that the verge is part of the highway and hence not private land. When we bought the land here, one of my most rewarding activities was to extract a *one off* payment from their wayleaves dept. for buried cables, stays and poles.

As discussed, they won't pay if the pole only serves your dwelling and will argue strenuously that the placing is highway land.

Where a stretch of verge in my ownership was disputed, I was able to seek help from the *Land Charges* dept. of my County Council for a fee of £35.00.

FYI contact point... BT Wayleave Scanning Office, Post Point 110N, Communications House, Harlescott Lane, Shrewsbury, SY1 3AQ

>

[Mike Barnes]

Thanks for the information - kept. I'll be getting a contractor in shortly and he has bags of experience and might be able to contribute something as well. This thread has helped prepare me - thanks to all.

[tony sayer]

Are the cables coming from the one direction?.

If so the stay should be on the opposite side.

Are the cables coming from the one direction opposite the stay and then carrying on in the stay side direction ?.

Do the cables off the pole go in all directions is it a distribution pole?.

[Artic]

Mike Barnes scribbled...

Unless you've got the worlds largest bin collection, WTF don't you put them between the pole and where the cable goes into the ground? You appear to live on a country lane, so I can't see anyone having a problem with you flattening out an area there, and as you claim to own that bit of verge (which I doubt) you can do what you like anyway.

[jgh]

Deeds. Not the location map, which is just indicates whereabouts the plot is, but the *written* section and any boundaries/meering map - which most deeds don't have.

jgh

[Mike Barnes]

I was hoping to stay within the side boundary.

Four wheelie bins, by the way. Black, brown, blue, green.