More than a hundred residents gather to discuss fears poles will 'ruin' their estate

A petition against the building of new poles has already attracted more than a thousand signatures and the meeting on Thursday night saw more than a hundred residents turn up.

They were told by James Morris, Conservative MP for Halesowen and Rowley Regis, that 'there will be no masts yet' but he asked everyone to 'keep pushing'.

Mr Morris told the meeting: "I can now tell you that there are no build plans for the masts yet.

"Now, what we need to do as a community and as a campaign is to prepare ourselves for the eventuality that BRSK will return. We need to think about what options do we have. How can we work together to make them happen?"

Estelle Scarth spoke on behalf of the residents of the area, where she announced that a petition opposing the building of the BRSK masts had gathered more than a thousand signatures.

Ms Scarth said: "Today I can reveal to you all that the petition stands at a total of 1,012 signatures. It is clear that we stand together to protect the beautiful open nature of this estate.

"We will continue to invite every household on this estate to join us in signing this petition to oppose the BRSK masts."

According to Mr Morris, an open invitation was sent to representatives from BRSK, but nobody from the company attended.

Ms Scarth said: "We aren't opposed to the idea of getting gigabit speed. We want faster internet. That's why we are really disappointed that BRSK didn't come tonight.

"They could see that we are nice people, honest people who want to engage with them. It's disappointing that they didn't come because they are really the only ones who can answer our questions and give us the truth about what is going on.

"There isn't going to be a lynch mob. These are lovely people on this estate. They don't fall out with each other, they are people who have minded their own business. These are people who care about the estate and they don't want to see it ruined."

Talking to the Express & Star, Mr Morris said: "I think the Squirrels estate has come together in quite a strong way with a strong number of these proposals.

"The number of people who came here tonight is a clear expression of the strength of feeling and the combination of all the work that everyone has done."