A Gateshead resident has criticised Openreach for installing a large concrete broadband access point in the middle of a grass verge outside his home. Graham Wardle, who lives on the Hanover Estate in Winlaton, wants the equipment removed, but Openreach says it’s staying where it is.
The 59-year-old train driver has helped maintain the council-owned verge with a neighbour since the pandemic, regularly cutting the grass and clearing weeds around the surrounding stone wall. He told ChronicleLive that Openreach’s contractors had ‘dug a massive hole in lovely grass instead of lifting two paving stones’.
Wardle says he tried to raise the issue with Openreach through two telephone calls and three online chats, but couldn’t reach the right department. That understandably added to his frustration: if you’ve looked after a patch of land for years, watching somebody dig it up without a proper explanation isn’t going to go down particularly well.
Image credit: Chronicle Live
Graham Wardle says Openreach has ruined the area outside of his house
Openreach says the verge caused the least disruption
Openreach told ChronicleLive that the access point forms part of a Full Fibre upgrade covering Brockwell Close and the surrounding area. Its existing underground network already runs through the grass verge, which made it the most practical location after engineers assessed the available options.
Installing the equipment beneath the pavement would apparently have required Openreach to reroute part of its network, carry out considerably more engineering work and potentially restrict access along the footpath for an extended period. Using the verge allowed the work to be completed safely while limiting the wider disruption.
The verge belongs to Gateshead Council rather than the surrounding residents, and Openreach says it has no plans to move the access point. That leaves Wardle and his neighbours cutting around the new concrete cover, although it should still allow engineers to reach the underground broadband network when installation or maintenance work is required.
