A PHONE company has admitted that it erected telegraph poles in the wrong place in a Southampton neighbourhood.

At the beginning of November, residents of Seacombe Green in Millbrook spoke out after Openreach placed telegraph poles just metres from homes.

Plans for the poles stated they would be placed on the grass verge, which residents understood would mean the grass strip at the side of the road.

But instead, poles were placed 10 feet from properties on grass patches which residents say is not where they should have been.

Peter Harris, 63, said at the time that the pole just outside his living room window was an "eyesore" which had devalued his property by about "£10,000".

Daily Echo: Telegraph poles have been placed metres from homes in Seacomb Green, Millbrook.

But now, weeks later, Openreach has admitted that poles at Seacombe Green are in the wrong place and that they intend to fix them.

An Openreach spokesperson told the Echo: “While preparing to install a new, ultrafast broadband network we erected two poles in the wrong location.

"We’re going to fix this, and have been working with the local authority which has agreed that we can relocate these poles to a site within the public highway areas at Seacombe Green.

"We strive to select and site our infrastructure sensitively but we got it wrong with these two poles and we apologise for any concern caused.”

Despite this though, Mr Harris said the company had not contacted him directly and that the fact they are now moving the poles shows they aren't following plans.

When asked what the poles were for previously, the company explained that it is "building a new, ultrafast broadband network in this part of Southampton to give local people access to gigabit-capable broadband."

This comes after residents in Thornhill launched a petition against a decision by broadband provider Toob to place telegraph poles in their area which they said was "unnecessary".