Turns out the electricity/phone pole in our garden needs replacing as it’s going hollow.
Anyone had it done?
Just spend a small fortune replacing the fence and other garden projects (planting/landscaping) that are very close to the pole.
Do they have a responsibility to put things back exactly as they were or do they just do what they need to regarding removing and replacing the old one?
Apparently they need to put a stay in too which isn’t there now so that’s going to look shit..

Vaguely related aside, After some issues With a bt phone pole In our garden I now know about wayleave and wayleave payments

In my experience they will “reinstate” but don’t expect a high standard. Worth taking some pics of the area before they start. Also worth finding out if there is a wayleave allowing them to have and maintain a pole on and cabling above your property and whether they should be paying you for that?

Check for wayleave, they should be able to produce it if agreed with previous landowner. It’s the sort of thing your solicitor should check during a purchase. Check if you are due an extra payment for the new stay. Also check if they can stick it the other side of the fence if it’s public land. They might be able to put a vertical stay on it with a standoff bracket at the top if a diagonal stay intrudes into your garden.

Thanks guys. I’ll be having a chat with them shortly about the process and will mention wayleave.
Pole can’t be put elsewhere as it’s another garden next door.
The pole is about an inch inside the fence so it’ll be interesting how well they do it so will take loads of before-during-after photos.

Ask them about burying that stretch of line to get rid of the pole. My folks did this with a line thru their garden with a pole. The line ended up going underground from the pole before to the pole after their garden. I have no idea the cost tho but it got rid of the pole in their garden

I have no idea the cost tho

Asked that question and would be about £6k..

When we bought our cottage, we had an electricity pole and a stay about 3 meters from our back door. This would have prevented a future kitchen extension, and the wire stay was a complete nuisance – just the right placement to do some hurt if you weren’t paying attention. Next time the pole inspector came, I had a word with him about this, and asked nicely if there was any chance they could move said pole to garden/field boundary and run cable underground.

Within a week three lads, a supervisor and a mini digger turned up and moved pole/stay about 35m away to the boundary, and dug a trench to take the cable underground to the outbuilding attached to the house, brought in an electrician and re-wired the consumer unit. Total cost – 3 slabs of beer, 3 boxes of biscuits, and a bottle of whisky for the supervisor. I think we were probably very lucky as we’d earlier been quoted 12k to take the cable underground from the next pole about 100m away in next door’s field.

Check for an existing wayleave, if there is one, check the area covered. It’s likely that a new or modified wayleave will be required to accommodate the stay.

Some pictures would be useful so I can see what sort of powerline is being supported.

I assume this is a through feed and doesn’t supply just you.

Is the property freehold or leasehold?

It’s unlikely the pole will be going back in the same hole. Some old pole were planted in big holes with cross members bolted to the bottom. New poles are typically augered in next to the existing one and the old one cut flush.

Ask for a method statement first with these sorts of details laid out on them.

I don’t think there is a wayleave as I did inquire ages ago and was told that we could get a payment.
It feeds several properties with power & phone.
This is the pole in question:

We had this done a couple of years ago. Said pole was right next to a fence and in the canopy of a tree which has a TPO; it looked like an impossible job without major damage. They turned up with a chipper, a cherry picker and a man with a chain saw. Apparently they don’t need to worry about TPOs and just merrily chopped branches off to get at the pole, and also some extra ones at my request while they were there. Replaced the pole (in the same place) and a wire stay without damaging the adjacent fence and left us with a trimmed tree, a new pole and overhead wire, and a pile of logs. All very painless and no cost to us. YMMV etc.

LV pole. Open/bare conductor. 3 phases and neutral (at the bottom).

Not sure I’d feel the need to add a stay wire unless there’s an angle to those lines that I can’t detect.

If there’s no wayleave then you could look at giving them notice to quit.

How are they planning on accessing your land?

The power comes down in line with the fence to the house but the phone lines go at an angle to the house next door.
What’s a notice to quit? Never heard of that before. Access is via a 3′ gate…he said it might be a struggle!

They’re going to have fun pulling a new pole up by hand. You’ll have two groups of people there as well.

Notice to quit is if a lease has expired or there is no wayleave, you can inform them that you no longer want their assets on your property.

An easement is normally for an underground cable and is attached to the land. A wayleave is normally used for overhead and is less permanent and attached to a person/owner.

However, if you’re asking them to leave the property, you’ve got to consider the alternative. They’re going to need to dig up the street and lay cables and services to each property. Any future faults are likely to need the road digging up again whereas if the conductor is on a pole, it’s easier to spot where the problem is.

Thanks Onza, I’ll see what they say..

If the pole feeds only your property then asking them to quit might mean you end up needing to pay for a new supply. I can’t remember the precise details but check before you do anything precipitous.