I believe that many in the Tadburn area would be totally in support of the residents of Whitenap in opposing Openreach's plans to install poles and cables on their estate.
They have only to look down Hillside Avenue, to see how that streetscape now resembles a shanty town, with cables going in all directions along the road.
Back in 2004, a Town Design Statement was produced by local residents, at the instigation of Test Valley Borough Council, under the banner of 'Look at Romsey'. Key issues highlighted even then by the Tadburn Area team included 'unsightly overhead wiring providing electricity and telephone services'. The Design Guidelines called for overhead power lines to be replaced by underground cabling, wherever practical
Now more and larger poles have been erected across the estate, with thick cables running parallel and across roads. The lower end of Botley Road is even worse.
The Town Design Statement, with its guidelines, was adopted by TVBC as Supplementary Planning Guidance twenty years ago. Surely by now it is possible to force Openreach to put their cables underground, both in existing and future developments.
Carolyn Nixson,
Eight Acres,
Romsey
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