There are no powers to order wooden poles to be taken down despite a petition of more than 100 people calling for their removal. The petition was first sent to Bolton Council in September 2023 objecting to plans to put up wooden poles around the Breeze Hill estate in Over Hulton. But despite 106 people having signed the petition, a recent council meeting heard how the petition had been “lost” at the time and that the authority could not demand their removal.
Assistant director of highways and engineering Dwayne Lowe said: “Unfortunately it did get lost in all the changes around planning that were happening around that time when the petition landed.” He added: “As soon as we’ve noticed and found it, we’ve pushed it through the forward plan.” Bolton Council has seen frequent debates about poles (Image: Newsquest) Mr Lowe had been addressing an executive cabinet member for regeneration meeting, which heard how the poles were classed as “permitted development.
” This means that the council does not have the power to seek the removal of the poles on “visual grounds.” But several of the attendees said that poles like these appearing across their areas had long been hotly contentious issue. Cllr Adele Warren, of Breightmet, said: “Any councillor who has had these poles and the streets dug up in their area knows just how upset residents have been about it.
” She added: “I do think the information when they started going in was slow as to whether it was per.