Metal pole still not moved from outside Bradshaw building

In June this year The Bolton News reported that the mast had been unexpectedly put up outside the Old Post Office on Bradshaw Road, Bradshaw, the previous month.

But now, resident Lisa Hill says that several months on the mast has not only not been moved but that engineers appear to have been adding to it.

She said: “They were back to put cables in it now!

“They were there again looking at the mast and when we asked what they were doing they said they said they had come back to put cables on the post – which is apparently meant to be coming down!”

Poles like this have appeared all over Bolton (Image: Public)

The Old Post Office is a Grade II listed building, believed to be hundreds of years old, and has previously been used as a school building.

The building is also found inside the Bradshaw Conservation Area.

Last June Mrs Hill said that she was concerned about the effect the new mast would have on the surrounding area.

She argued that it would only take moving it seven yards away to “make a huge difference” and placate some of these concerns.

The pole was put up outside a historic building (Image: Public)

In June local representatives in Harwood said that IX Wireless had agreed to move the pole.

But around three months on, the pole is still in place and looks set to have cables added.

This came after long running concerns about telegraph poles being put up all across Bolton, often at short notice, by telecommunications company IX Wireless.

The pole was put up earlier this year (Image: Public)

Under current policy poles are called as “permitted development” and so do not need permission from the council before being put up.

But if an antenna is attached then the poles become officially classified instead as “masts”, meaning that need planning permission before being installed.

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Elsewhere across Bolton, the appearance of masts has sparked widespread alarm and even public protests.

In April 2023 a demonstration was held in the town centre while people also turned out to protests in Harwood and Bromley Cross since then.

Earlier this year, in April, a retired teacher held a sit-down protest outside his home on Hardy Mill Road, Harwood to try and prevent a pole from being installed.

IX Wireless has been approached for comment.