People in a Hereford street are unhappy after a 8.5m (28ft) “Jack-and-the-Beanstalk” telegraph pole was put in by a broadband supplier.

“It must be the largest pole in Hereford,” Three Elms Road resident Brenda Cummings said.

"My neighbours are ever so upset about it. It’s right in front of people’s windows.”

She explained: “There are only 11 bungalows in the close here. We are all over 70, and only one of us has a computer. Yet we have this absolute Jack-and-the-Beanstalk telegraph pole!”

Another firm, Zzoomm, had already carried out installation work in the same area recently, she said.

A spokesperson for the pole’s installer Openreach said: “There are times when we simply cannot avoid erecting poles to provide services efficiently, safely and in a sound engineering manner.

“Our team letter-dropped the area in advance of the work, a pre-site notice was placed on a streetlight and we also gave a 28-day notice for any objections to be received. None were.”

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When the issue was raised at a recent meeting of Herefordshire councillors, Coun Louis Stark said: “Full fibre operators do not need to seek planning permission to set up telegraph poles, which Ross-on-Wye residents are very concerned about.”

Coun John Stone said: “Last July, lots of telegraph poles appeared in Leominster almost overnight – it was like Day of the Triffids. There was no consultation and we faced uproar from residents.”

Council leader David Hitchiner said that the contractor in this case “were supposed inform the planning department who could consult; they don’t have to do anything about it, but at least the planners could have said, ‘why aren’t you putting the cables underground?’ because that’s what they ought to do”.

He said: “The Government is allowing hideous telegraph poles to be put up – a point I have made to the minister, who said it is more important to get the full fibre there.”

Meanwhile, Gigaclear, a contractor which the council had engaged, had been unable to supply some rural parts of the county at all due to cost, leaving some 2,324 households with broadband speeds of less than 30Mbps.

“Having broken off the contract with Gigaclear, the council is now pressing these left-behind areas to be part of the Government’s Project Gigabit,” Coun Hitchiner said.

“I appreciate residents who had been expecting to receive better broadband will be very disappointed. We will continue to press central Government to provide help.”

Peter Jinman, ward councillor for Golden Valley South, one of the areas most affected, said: “Not having this access is holding back business development. In education, over the last two years children were not able to get online during lockdown. We need to press MPs and ministers.”

Meanwhile, poor connectivity is adding to social isolation in rural areas, “a major driver of mental health issues”, fellow Golden Valley councillor Jennie Hewitt said.

Coun Carole Gandy said it was also a problem in her Mortimer ward in the north of the county. “We have been here before – BT underestimated how difficult it would be,” she said.

“We have to be certain that when a contractor says they can deliver, they deliver – or we require compensation.”

Cabinet member for environment and economy Ellie Chowns replied: “I share your frustration. All avenues were explored in terms of pursuing compensation.”

Project Gigabit will still depend on private contractors, she warned. “This vital national infrastructure has been done through a piecemeal approach that has failed in more difficult-to-reach rural areas.”

Coun Hitchiner urged residents affected should raise the issue with their local councillor, saying: “If we don’t hear from you, there’s nothing we can do.”