Permission to dig to clear blocked ducts

I wonder if anyone can help me please!

FTTP showed available to order recently. Put the order through. Few days later two openreach workers spent a few hours trying to pull cables through our ducts, only to find that there are blockages that need clearing. They've marked a white X on the cul de sac (small private road unadopted by council) where they need to dig - it's around 5M from my driveway.

The BT manhole cover is around 10M from my house, the block is around half way between the manhole and my drive/house. Openreach were able to bring the fibre to the manhole cover/duct already - it's just the final length to my house that's the issue.

I didn't hear back so called my ISP (EE) who advised that Openreach are trying to obtain permission to dig from the landowner. They gave me a name, which turned out to be the builder of the houses on the cul de sac, someone I know in person.

They had his address already, and I can only presume they'd been trying to send forms in the post. I gave them his email address and telephone number (the person is perfectly happy for me to do so).

I gave them another week, they advise they're not received a response through the post or via email. The person has not received a letter, email or phone call.

Where do I go from here? I cant call Openreach myself, neither can the 'landowner' (it's just a small tarmac cul de sac that 6 houses use).

I feel this is just going to led to my order being cancelled.

Edited by dave2150 (Thu 15-Jan-26 17:25:12)

As long as you have clear evidence of the that the person HAS responded to the enquiries from Openreach, then I would be sending an email to Openreach’s CEO’s office politely explaining the issue.

Google will give the CEO’s details

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

As long as you have clear evidence of the that the person HAS responded to the enquiries from Openreach, then I would be sending an email to Openreach’s CEO’s office politely explaining the issue.

Google will give the CEO’s details

I have evidence that the person hasn't received any contact from Openreach, whether that be letter, email or phone call. I've provided EE with all three (they had the name & address only originally).

Perhaps it's still worth me contacting the CEO with these details, in the hope that they can get things moving.

I have evidence that the person hasn't received any contact from Openreach

I meant more evidence that the permission has been sent to Openreach .

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I have evidence that the person hasn't received any contact from Openreach

I meant more evidence that the permission has been sent to Openreach .

How can I obtain this? The person hasn't received a letter, phone call or email from Openreach. My ISP are told by Openreach that they have attempted contact.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

As long as you have clear evidence of the that the person HAS responded to the enquiries from Openreach, then I would be sending an email to Openreach’s CEO’s office politely explaining the issue.

Google will give the CEO’s details

Thank you so much for this suggestion. I just had the most promising reply from the CEO, less than 10 minutes after sending a detailed email with all the particulars.

I thought it must have been an AI/auto response - though it's got a "Sent from Outlook for iOS" message at the bottom and mentions a chief engineer for Wales by name who will review this for me, so I think it's an actual response from a human.

I'm seriously impressed!

Well I shall keep my fingers crossed for a resolution for you.

Please keep any progress updated on here, as this might help others.

In reply to a post by dave2150:

I thought it must have been an AI/auto response - though it's got a "Sent from Outlook for iOS" message at the bottom and mentions a chief engineer for Wales by name who will review this for me, so I think it's an actual response from a human.

I'm seriously impressed!

I have had a couple of contacts with CEO's office and they get things moving quickly. One was a fault and the other digging up the path next to my drive as there was no lead in from the duct to my drive. Good luck.

That’s not the chief engineer for Wales, it’s Andy Whale who is OpenReach’s chief engineer and sits on the board.

He is a top chap - I emailed the CEO a few years ago as my FTTPoD project was grinding to a halt and on the cusp of losing funding. Andy sent engineers round on a bank holiday weekend and the whole project was completed a few weeks later (including pulling cable through new ducts and commissioning the fibre for ten properties).

Good luck 😉

when things go badly wrong and where the system can't really resolve that route is sometimes the only route.

but as always use sparingly

So, the landowner received the forms in the post, the email version never made it to him, despite checking junkmail etc.

Thankfully the landowner was able to scan and then email this consent to dig form back to Openreach.

Openreach confirmed receipt of documents and now we're just waiting for a date from their civils team. I understand this usually takes weeks for a 'hard dig' team - but as it's all now going through a complaint/escalation manager direct with Openreach, I'm hoping it's a little faster.

Update! Openreach have confirmed the civils team is all booked for Monday 26th. That's much faster than I was expecting for the 'hard dig' team.

I wonder if they're going to dig/install a new duct or re-use the current one if they're able to unblock it. The permission to dig forms are not clear on what approach they'll take, they only note that the current duct is blocked (between house & joint footway), the duct is ~25M.

Being in email & phone contact directly with Openreach has been fantastic - I wasn't getting anywhere with the call centre staff at EE.

Edited by dave2150 (Tue 20-Jan-26 13:17:36)

In reply to a post by dave2150:

Update! Openreach have confirmed the civils team is all booked for Monday 26th. That's much faster than I was expecting for the 'hard dig' team.

I wonder if they're going to dig/install a new duct or re-use the current one if they're able to block it. The permission to dig forms are not clear on what approach they'll take, they only note that the current duct is blocked (between house & joint footway), the duct is ~25M.

Being in email & phone contact directly with Openreach has been fantastic - I wasn't getting anywhere with the call centre staff at EE.

Great news for you.

In reply to a post by dave2150:

I wonder if they're going to dig/install a new duct or re-use the current one if they're able to block it. The permission to dig forms are not clear on what approach they'll take, they only note that the current duct is blocked (between house & joint footway), the duct is ~25M.

I suspect they will rod from each end of the duct to work out where the blockage is then they will dig in that location and remove the blockage.

Update. Openreach Civil team arrived today, with a huge truck containing all manner of digging and other miscellaneous equipment as well as a normal sized openreach van for backup.

4 men worked hard and were able to get the fibre cable through the existing ducts without having to dig. They were here around 4 hours in total. I was working from home, they asked my permission to cut the existing copper cable and use this as a drawstring to pull the fibre through.

I gave permission, around 30 minutes later they had replaced the copper cable and reconnected it, my FTTC service was then back online.

I now have a huge reel of fibre coming out of the duct right up to my wall, ready for the next install go ahead, which is now booked in for Wednesday.

Image of install

I'm over the moon that there's light at the end of the tunnel. The irony is all the work getting permission to dig and chasing that ended up wasted - they didn't have to dig at all.

The team that came were extremely professional and hard working - they were aware that the CEO had been involved and this was an escalated case.

P.S. An interesting note is that upon reconnecting my severed copper cable, my VDSL2+ SNR has increased a solid 4db, it's never been this high. I've not synced any higher as my line is capped at 25Mmbit sync - though my modem now advises a maximum sync of 30Mbit is possible. Maybe they snipped off a little of the copper cable, lowering it's attenuation!

Edited by dave2150 (Mon 26-Jan-26 15:36:51)

In reply to a post by dave2150:

I'm over the moon that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

It's light at the end of the fibre you need.


I'll get me coat.

In reply to a post by burble:

In reply to a post by dave2150:

I'm over the moon that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

It's light at the end of the fibre you need.


I'll get me coat.

You're very lucky! Very rare for Openreach this work (very expensive cost UG work)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

You're very lucky! Very rare for Openreach this work (very expensive cost UG work)

I don’t agree with your statement.

It sounds to me like a network intervention team went … and what they’ve actually done is, please a customer, whilst at the same time, reduce costs to the company.

Update!

Final install went well yesterday, 30 mins and was all done. I have a 2.5Gbe ONT provided, even though I only ordered the 900Mbit from EE.

A separate issue - I was originally told I wasn't able to order the 1600Mbit service from EE as it wasn't available in my area. Thought this was strange as the build in my village is only a few weeks old.

When I called EE yesterday to address a billing issue, I was told I was able to get the 1600Mbit service, only that they'd have to create it on their system as a new order/new account, and then close down my existing account. I went ahead as it's on offer for £44.99 a month, which also gets me a Wifi7 extender included. Time to put the 2.5Gbe ports on my high end motherboards to use!

Seems a very odd system, why release a 1.6Gbe service if they're unable to migrate existing customers to it? So I now have another order in (on a separate email/EE/BT account) for a brand new 1600mbit service on Friday 13th (!) of February. They claim I need additional external and internal work done to provide the 1.6Gbps service, though I'm pretty sure this isn't the case since I already have the 2.5Gbe ONT.

They're also sending my an additional ee smarmt hub 7 plus router, even though my current one was only delivered a few days ago!

Hopefully all goes well and I'll just get 1.6Gbe on the morning of the 13th, not requiring an engineer visit, but will update here if any issues for anyone interested

Edited by dave2150 (Thu 29-Jan-26 13:49:58)

1.6Gbps is depend on your fibre handover exchange if support it or not! Mine doesn't support any 1.6Gbps even thought I have 2.5Gbps ONT. The engineer told me on the day of full fibre installation, he has checked if my property can get OR 1.6Gbps and told me NOPE! Only up to 1Gig.

Edited by adslmax (Thu 29-Jan-26 15:06:47)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

1.6Gbps is depend on your fibre handover exchange if support it or not! Mine doesn't support any 1.6Gbps even thought I have 2.5Gbps ONT. The engineer told me on the day of full fibre installation, he has checked if my property can get OR 1.6Gbps and told me NOPE! Only up to 1Gig.

Hmm that's strange, as yours is a relatively recent build as well I thought?

What does the Openreach checker say for your address? https://www.openreach.com/fibre-checker

If this says 1.6Gbps is available, it 100% is.

I was first told no 1.6Gbps for my area when trying to order it on the EE website/phone, but another tier of agent at EE was able to explain it is available, but only to brand new customers on their system.

To get around the brand new customer limit, I had to use a a different email address and have a new EE/BT account and setup direct debit from scratch etc. They then cancel your current account/service (even if still in contact) once the new account is setup. The agent walked me through this on the phone, though it did take a 2 hour 10 minute phone call. Luckily I was having a slow day at work that day!

There's a deal on with EE currently, £44.99 for the 1.6Gbps

Edited by dave2150 (Mon 02-Feb-26 08:28:40)

In reply to a post by dave2150:

What does the Openreach checker say for your address? https://www.openreach.com/fibre-checker

If this says 1.6Gbps is available, it 100% is.

Openreach checker say up to 1.6Gbps but many ISPs has to follow BTw checker say up to 1Gbps.

But I did checked on EE website before it say can order 1.6Gbps but at the time it was £74 this is why I went to Aquiss for £27.50 a month for up to 1Gbps.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I went to Aquiss for £27.50 a month for up to 1Gbps.

For accuracy, its only £27.50 for the first 3 months then £55.00 for the next 9 months of the contract (average cost is £48.12 per month). If you go for another 12 month contract its £55.00 each month.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

For accuracy, its only £27.50 for the first 3 months then £55.00 for the next 9 months of the contract (average cost is £48.12 per month). If you go for another 12 month contract its £55.00 each month.

Yes I am aware of it. Only staying with Aquiss for 1 year then switch to other ISP in January 2027 to get cheaper deal.

BT Wholesale does not offer the 1.6 Gbps, where BT Consumer is doing 1.6 Gbps they have their own handover i.e. bypassing BT Wholesale

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

BT Wholesale does not offer the 1.6 Gbps, where BT Consumer is doing 1.6 Gbps they have their own handover i.e. bypassing BT Wholesale

Don't know why BTw not offering top tier speed! Very odd! But doesn't matter as 1Gig for now but if Martin offering 1.6Gbps then I might upgraded it.