Residents left in rage after telegraph pole installed overnight cuts access to garages

When a telegraph pole appeared “out of nowhere” at the back of Linscott Road in Woodseats, a resident had already had permission for an electric vehicle charging point, another had had a business running from their garage and another had been in hospital.

The pole has been in place for a year now and the EV charging station is now out of the question, the business is no more, and a car is “eternally” stuck and rotting away in a garage.

Furthermore, people have now lost their ability to sell their homes with access to a garage resulting in a loss of property value and, in the end, money.

However, a campaign to remove the pole has been set up and they won’t stop.

It was Katie Norfolk’s grandma who went into hospital just to get home and realised her car was stuck due to the new pole.

Ms Norfolk, or Katie, has taken the lead in doing everything she can to help her grandma and other residents on the street.

Katie told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Prior to this (the pole) being here, all of this was dug out and there are a number of garages all the way to the bottom (of the lane). All of these gardens used to extend to the bollard, previously.

“In the 1960s, my grandad and all the rest of the residents agreed with the council to give up part of the garden to have garages, all done with planning permission, all legally, hence the drop kerb. Now the drop kerb is locked.

“We petitioned the council about this (the pole), as it obviously affects property value, you can’t sell a house with access to your garage, or rear parking, or anything. There are three properties here with planning permission for electric vehicle charging points which they can’t have…”

The installation of the pole, she said, happened overnight. To add to this, her grandma was in hospital and when she came home the pole was in place.

“So the car is in the garage, rotting away,” she added.

She claimed there was no consultation about the pole and there was no “notice of it other than once it was installed on the pole saying if anybody’s got any complaints, contact us”.

Katie noted: “Everybody who has been affected has contacted (the company), and they just keep saying the council has given us permission.”

She wanted to reiterate that it’s not just her grandma who is affected by this telegraph pole but a lot of people on the street.

There is one person, who doesn’t want to be named, who has apparently bought a house on Linscott Road above market value due to the prospect of having a garage but now as that option is gone they have lost money on the property and their car insurance has gone up as well as they have to park on the street.

Another person set up his business in their garage but because of the pole, they had to abandon their developments.

Now, their garages are left to ruin and are overgrown by weeds while anti-social behaviour (graffiti) is getting out of hand.

Katie said the case had been in front of the full council, planning and pretty much everybody but “they just keep passing the bar, saying we have to talk to Connect Fibre while Connect Fibre is saying, well, we’ve got planning permission for it”.

“Nobody seems to care,” she added.

Katie said residents have been in touch with Connect Fibre and one of the explanations they were given was that the lane was already having a bollard.

She said: “Yes, but that is on a public footpath – completely separate from this. It is quite clearly in the centre of the footpath.”

Katie said this is just a “super silly” story and you have to laugh not to cry.

She said: “How does this happen? It’s just absolutely baffling. Hopefully with this coverage, who’s gonna want to install with a company that has no regard for people?”

Coun Mohammed Mahroof, one of the local ward councillors, has been working with Ms Norfolk from the start and he told the LDRS that “bureaucracy has gone mad and common sense and reasoning have been thrown out of the window”.

He said: “If this wasn’t true, this would potentially be, for anybody not involved, a very funny story.

“But this is a very serious story for a lady who went into the hospital, came back and never to have access to her car again.

“I’ve tried everything to try to get people to see sense and I’ve been told this is somebody else’s fault.

“I promised Katie we would stick with it and we will continue to do so.”

He added one of the biggest issues here is how big organisations have “complete disregard” for the general public.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has approached Sheffield Council and Connect Fibre for a comment.

A spokesperson for the council said the telegraph pole has been sighted on the verge of a footpath and in accordance with their permit and the Communications Act 2003.

They added: “Consequently, the Highway Authority has no powers to request the removal or relocation of the utility company’s equipment.

“The garages were installed in the 1960s under the assumption that an all-purpose highway would be created. A letter from 1966 states a request from residents for the council to grant vehicle rights to the land, however, the council wasn’t the landowner at the time and was not able to grant those rights. This remains the case today.

“The permit for the telegraph pole was submitted in accordance with national guidelines and, as a result, any request for the pole to be repositioned would need to come from a resident and directed to the utility company.

“If any residents have a private right, then they should assert that upon the utility company.”

Connect Fibre told us: “As part of the standard procedure for installing above-ground telecommunications infrastructure that falls under permitted development, we submitted the proposed location to the local authority for approval.

“Following approval, we placed notices in the area 28 days prior to the installation of the pole. These notices included the address of the pole location, an image showing what the pole and surrounding area would look like once installed, a map of the work point, and our contact details for any residents with questions or concerns.

“The installation was completed under an approved streetworks permit issued by the local authority’s highways team in early February 2024.

“The footpath is not designated for vehicular access, and it is not visible from the main street that garages have been built further down. A bollard was already in place at this location to prevent vehicles from driving along the footpath, with only a grass verge alongside it.

“With the context given above relocating the pole is still part of our ongoing build plan. If there are instances of multiple cars being locked in the area, resulting in significant costs to residents, we were not made aware of any urgency regarding this matter.

“Once the pole relocation is scheduled for this, the local residents will be informed via notices posted in the area, we aim to do this as soon as is reasonably possible.”