9 November 2026. Eighteen months after the poles went up, here is where Burton Close stands, what the law actually says, and what has been sent today.

What Lightspeed said

On 4 March 2025 Lightspeed apologised “for not communicating our plans to the community before work began”. On 19 March it said poles were needed where BT’s ducts are “not present, or directly buried”. On 25 July 2025 it put it in writing:

“Burton Close – this road has no existing ducting within the footpath or to properties, with the exception of short, isolated section of duct that feeds a single property on the road. Belvedere Close – there is a significant amount of existing ducting in this road within the footpath and to properties. We carried out isolated areas of digging on Belvedere Close to in fill any gaps in the ducting.”

Lightspeed Broadband, 25 July 2025

So: Belvedere Close already had pipes, Lightspeed only patched the gaps, and Burton Close got poles because digging a whole street is too disruptive and too expensive.

What the photographs show

On 12 April 2025, 20 metres from Burton Close, Lightspeed’s contractors were cutting a continuous trench along the kerb line of Belvedere Close, under cover boards marked “trench width max 400 mm”. Stacks of brand-new green duct were laid out along the hedge ready to go in. A trench with stone backfill ran straight through a driveway crossing. The barriers ran the full length of the street.

New duct in long lengths is what you lay when there is no existing duct to pull through. That is a street being built underground by narrow trenching, the cheap way to go underground. The map we drew in July 2025 shows Belvedere Close, Tavistock Close and Ashlands Close trenched end to end, and Burton Close given four poles.

What the law actually says

We have spent the last day reading the actual legislation rather than what people assume. The honest position:

• No one approved the poles, because no approval exists. A company with Code powers can put poles up to 15 m tall in a public street as permitted development. The only duty is 28 days’ written notice to Tamworth Borough Council (regulation 5 of the Electronic Communications Code (Conditions and Restrictions) Regulations 2003). The council cannot refuse. Residents have no right to be told.
• “Underground by default” was switched off for broadband in 2013, everywhere except nature reserves. That rule does not help us.
• Two duties do bite. The operator must, “so far as reasonably practicable”, minimise the impact on the visual amenity of properties (regulation 3(3)(a)), and must relocate an overhead line when asked unless it tells you within 56 days that the request is unreasonable (regulation 4(3)). Ofcom has now fined two broadband companies for exactly this conduct: BRSK (£14,000, July 2025, Birmingham, no notice to the council) and IX Wireless (£7,500, 4 November 2026, visual amenity).
• The strong court route is closed. A resident can object to a new pole and the court must uphold it, but only within 12 months of installation (paragraph 75 of the Electronic Communications Code and the paragraphs that follow it). For poles put up in early 2025, that window shut in early 2026, before any of us knew it existed.

What has been sent today

1. A formal request to Lightspeed under regulation 4(3) to relocate the line and re-site the pole outside number 38, with a 56-day clock, plus the photographs above.
2. Freedom of Information requests to Tamworth Borough Council (did Lightspeed ever give the 28-day notice for Burton Close and Perry Crofts?) and Staffordshire County Council (every permit Lightspeed held for Burton Close, Belvedere Close, Farm Close and Coton Lane).
3. A subject access request to Lightspeed for everything it holds about this address, including the “notice” it says it delivered.
4. A complaint to Ofcom’s enforcement team asking for an investigation of Lightspeed in Tamworth like the BRSK and IX Wireless cases.
5. Letters to Sarah Edwards MP (what did Ofcom reply to her 27 May 2025 letter?) and to our borough councillors (did the council receive the notices, and will it refer Lightspeed to Ofcom as Birmingham did?).
6. A briefing to the Tamworth Herald.

What you can do

If Lightspeed put a pole outside your home, send them the letter on the Complain now page: it asks for the notice date, the visual-amenity assessment and relocation under regulation 4(3), and copies Ofcom and the MP. If you wrote to this site in 2025, check your email: we are collecting names for one joint letter from every affected street.

This page is not legal advice. Every statement about the law above links to the legislation or the Ofcom decision it comes from; the full research is available on request.