15096/1THE view from a 17th century listed house in West Lavington has been blighted after BT put up a telephone pole in front of it, claims the owner.

Tony Morton, who has lived in Dial House, a Grade II* listed William and Mary house, for eight years, was astonished to see BT workmen erect the 18ft pole on the patch of green outside his house.

He said: "English Heritage objected to us putting up a small 30cm satellite dish on the side of our house that is well away from public view but, seemingly, they have no power to stop BT doing something like this."

BT said they had been asked to supply a line to a new house in the area and the best way of doing that was erecting three poles along Rutts Lane, including the one outside Dial House.

Mr Morton said: "There is a perfectly satisfactory route which already delivers telephone lines to half a dozen other houses, that pole being in the middle of an open field with no danger to it other than from sheep."

But Mr Morton has been told that pole is an electricity pole and BT is banned for health and safety reasons from using these after a woman engineer was killed in a freak accident some years ago.

Jason Mann of BT said: "Following complaints from the occupier, we have reviewed this matter twice now but have decided the poles are in the best possible position.

"The minimum height a line can be across a highway is 5.9 metres and the previous pole is too low."