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Residents in the Heron’s Reach area of Blackpool are up in arms after no less than four phone masts were put up in their street – one of them right on the corner of a couple’s driveway.

The 30ft tall wooden poles have been sited on Heron Way by telecoms company IX Wireless.

Residents are so unhappy they have joined a wider Facebook campaign, Residents Against IX Wireless & 6G Internet Ltd, to coordinate their protest against the development.

Chris and Vicky Spence are particularly livid because one of the poles is on the edge of their driveway, where the kerb is dropped specially to accommodate cars.

They say the towering pole is so close they have to take extra care getting the car out of their driveway, just to avoid hitting the structure.

Chris, 52, said: “It’s just a plain ridiculous location to place a pole, I can’t understand why they could even think of putting it there.

"Right across the road is a pavement with nothing next to it but a long hedge shielding people’s back gardens, why couldn’t they site it there instead?

"A lot of residents are outraged by these poles, the scale of them, the number of them and the fact we weren’t even consulted about them.”

Vicky said: “In order to avoid hitting it, I have to drive into our hedge and risk scratching the car.

"I spoke to one of the women at IX and she admitted it wasn’t a good place and something could be done about it.

"The next day, the same women then backtracked and said a permit would have to be obtained in order for it to be moved.

"The first thing we knew about all this was when posters appeared on lamp posts. The next day the pole outside out house was up.”

She addd: “I can’t understand why all these poles are needed anyway – a few months back the road was dug up to put in underground cables for Virgin – it’s ridiculous.”

The couple say they had been told that the company did not have to apply for planning permission to erect the poles – they understood that such developments came under ‘committed development guidelines’, meaning they were exempt from the planning process.

Chris added: “It seems to be a clever loophole in the law and it shouldn’t be allowed.

"If these things are being put up across Blackpool, they need to find suitable places to do it.”

IX were approached for a comment.

Blackpool residents unhappy as four IX Wireless masts erected on Heron's Reach