XFASTINDEX The first of a new footbridge design has opened at Garforth railway station in West Yorkshire Amco Giffen began work on the £6m Garforth station footbridge project in May 2023 The new deck was lifted into place in April 2024 and the bridge has opened to the public at the end of July Passenger lifts – a key feature of the new bridge since it funded by the government’s Access for All scheme – will not be ready until later in the autumn The bridge design is called the Beacon, due to the design of its two lift shafts. The generic design, by Haskoll and Davies Maguire, is featured in Network Rail’s Footbridges & Subways Design Manual, first published in 2020, along with the Ribbon and the Frame for footbridges in station settings. A fourth design option, the AVA was added to the manual's second edition this year A security feature of the Beacon bridge is toughened glass side panels so that users can see if other people are also using the bridge or staircases Garforth station’s previous Grade II listed bridge has been relocated to the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway in Kent.) principal programme sponsor for Network Rail’s North and East route said: “Completing the installation of the first Beacon bridge is a significant achievement in the project and we are now one step closer to making Garforth station fully accessible for passengers “We are committed to providing a station which makes travelling easier for everyone and we would like to thank passengers and residents for their continued patience and understanding as we head towards the culmination of the project.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk 2 hours Ebbsfleet Development Corporation is undertaking early market engagement for infrastructure works. 19 hours Following a recent expansion into North America, Murphy Group has now entered Australia. 1 hour Innovative tracked carrier manufacturer among 2025 King’s Award for Enterprise recipients 2 hours Modular construction business Integra Buildings has received royal recognition for its approach to sustainability. 3 hours MTX Contracts has been selected as the preferred bidder to build a diagnostic centre in Pitsea, Essex. 3 hours House-builder Springfield Properties has promoted Darren Thomson to construction director for its north of Scotland operations. © 2025 The Construction Index [Company No ' + response[i].created_nice + ' ' + response[i].description + ' Mind the Gap: Join the Place North Viability Gap Campaign The retirement living specialist is looking to build 42 apartments on brownfield land at the junction of Barrowby Lane and Wakefield Road and a mobility scooter charging station and storage room Prior to submitting a planning application, McCarthy Stone is holding an online public consultation until Monday 7 October. This can be viewed here. said: “The site is ideally located with public transport links to local shops and amenities nearby “There is a real need for specialist retirement accommodation in Garforth and this proposal would go some way to addressing that whilst at the same time releasing existing family homes onto the market and helping to relieve the pressure for local Green Belt release.” Read our comments policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This sounds to be a good use of the land as long as there are suitable places for crossing the roads allocated The location of the development presentsbaccess and egress highway concerns having regard to the guidance in Manual for Streets Furthermore any planning application must be accompanied by both a noise and environmental impact assessments The assessments must illustrates how such impacts will be negated to satisfy the limits These homes are affordable for wealthy older people only who can afford to also pay an annual fee – usually many thousands of £s I agree with the need for more smaller houses/flats to incentives downsizing and free up houses for families However until they come with heatpumps and solar panels why would anyone who is benefitting from having made these changes in their own home buses and off road walks would make this tempting but they need to be well built and modest rather than luxurious to have wider appeal in terms of affordability The 65 affordable-home development is three miles from the city centre and was brought forward in a £13.1m land-led deal in partnership with Together Housing Contractor Bowmer & Kirkland topped out on the 368 BTR apartments last April and has now handed it over for occupation completing phase one of the £300m regeneration scheme Register for free Yorkshire property intelligence Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Stay updated on the latest news and views in Yorkshire property views and opportunities in Yorkshire property By subscribing, you are agreeing to Place Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value" The deployment of wood poles to run overhead fibre is a common practice (over 4 million have already been built) This is because they’re quick and cost-effective to build (several times cheaper than trenching) can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access agreement to safely put new underground cables access restrictions and damage to pavements of street works) and can be built under Permitted Development (PD) rights with only minimal prior notice not everybody is a fan of poles (particularly those living in areas that haven’t had them before) which has caused a sharp rise in complaints and protests from residents in various parts of the UK The complaints usually highlight their negative visual appearance as well as concerns about their exposure to damage from major storms duplication of existing infrastructure and various other things which had built to cover 12,000 premises in several UK locations (e.g Great Preston etc.) before running out of money Locals have also complained about a lack of public engagement by the operator At the time of writing, Giggle Fibre had not provided a comment to the BBC (we’ve also contacted Giggle for a comment), although a local community action group (here) has posted the response they received from Giggle Giggle Fibre’s Response to Community Concerns We understand the concerns regarding the installation of telegraph poles and their potential impact on the local area We appreciate the opportunity to provide some context around our approach and the challenges we have encountered in delivering high-speed broadband to the community According to recent research and reports from estate agents having gigabit connectivity (or “full fibre” broadband) can significantly increase the value of your home Fast internet is now considered a key feature for many potential buyers especially with the rise of remote work and streaming entertainment; Studies suggest it can add several thousand pounds to a property’s value much of the existing underground network in East Garforth consists of direct-buried cables without suitable ducting This makes it impractical for shared use and significantly limits alternative installation methods previous installations by a different Statutory Undertaker have presented further challenges some of their network was not installed in line with their own specifications or The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 This has led to multiple instances of damage resulting in legal disputes over repair costs the only viable solution to complete the network build in this area is the installation of new telegraph poles We understand that overhead infrastructure may not be the preferred solution for all residents Our goal remains to provide high-quality broadband access while working as considerately as possible within the constraints of the existing infrastructure and regulatory framework Installing fibre via telegraph poles is a well-established minimally disruptive method with a low environmental impact While we understand that some residents would prefer an underground network this approach presents considerable challenges The risk of damaging existing underground utilities many of which have not been installed to industry standards is too high to make this a practical method of deploying the network the sites were selected following thorough site visits and careful planning The process used adheres to the Cabinet Siting and Pole Siting Code of Practice Through this process ewe have managed to reduce the number of planned poles from 487 to 262 poles in the entirety of Garforth The operator did initially pause their deployment of new poles which came after pressure from Leeds Highways But work recently resumed and the operator now seems reluctant to engage in another public meeting after they said the previous one “at times … became unstructured limiting productive discussion” (i.e Burgon added: “What we want is for the community to be treated with respect and consideration and any broadband company that uses their telegraph poles should expect a big boycott from local residents.” Suffice to say that it’s a challenging place for a new altnet like Giggle to be targeting but that doesn’t seem to be stopping them Meanwhile, the government is preparing to publish a revised Code of Practice (preview here) that should as Sir Chris Bryant (Telecoms Minister) put it require providers to “pay greater attention to the communities’ concerns” and to build underground wherever possible (operators already do this as it’s the most cost-effective approach But it will focus on ensuring that network operators communicate better with communities (identifying areas where this is needed) The Code will introduce clearer rules on where not to site poles as well as guidance on what to do with pole complaints and where re-siting is appropriate the Code will include an industry commitment to consider pole impact during the planning and installation stages as well as a commitment to consider utilising existing poles such as around the difficult issue of enforcement Sounds like there are at least 3 other competitors there so why the need for another lot of poles and spaghetti wiring Many Altnets don’t even bother taking the old copper line away when a customer takes out fibre installation this would at least help to reduce wires strewn across streets and people’s view lines from windows BT let operators remove copper lines from a few months ago They bought Spring Fibre’s spine they went bust building through Garforth Now they want to make money on it as cheaply as possible In areas with almost ubiquitous Virgin Media coverage and apart from Garforth itself where it’s just a majority almost ubiquitous FTTP coverage from Netomnia or Openreach They’re not as bad as IXWireless but they are in that ballpark THats why they call them Giggle fibre thay do not care about our environment “hideous wires” – If they are not able to produce photos to demonstrate where beautiful wires have been used elsewhere and compare those photos to these “hideous wires” then they are just wires Place a wire in the middle of a bundle it’s a wire Place it over the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel it’s a hideous wire East Garforth has Virgin and Openreach underground so can appreciate no-one really has time for unnecessary poles which won’t be used by 95% of residents stop complaining about not having decent speeds at reasonable cost They already have Openreach FTTP and Virgin underground Although the area might be well-served by Openreach and Virgin installations where the particular problems exist outlined by Giggle in their statement (of below industry standard and unducted cabling) Openreach have no interest in installing FTTP as it is a high-cost project I know this because I live on a small development dating from the 70s in a village in Nottinghamshire (the entire rest of the village is now served by FTTP) The cabling in place in our development at a distance of a mile from the street cabinet can barely support delivery of existing phone services the residents of the Garforth areas affected need to be cognisant of the fact that this is their chance to access FTTP and no-one is going to arrive soon to offer it any other way When Openreach refused to install on our estate they quoted a ‘prohibitive’ cost of £1300 per dwelling to remedy the condition of their network infrastructure; their priority is to maximise returns to shareholders and not delivery to customers in uneconomic installs I would be signing up to Giggle not petitions Is overbuilding a functional telephony network to fully duct it for fibre provision ‘remediation’ Openreach are part of a publicly traded company They aren’t there to deliver to customers in uneconomic installs except where the law requires it If you’ve an issue with this petition the government: they’re the ones who make the laws Chances are government schemes will result in a build to you: check the Think Broadband maps Most of Garforth itself has either Openreach or Netomnia FTTP available Kippax and Allerton Bywater the coverage between the two of them is near ubiquitous Virgin Media coverage is virtually ubiquitous This isn’t a place where the options are copper They’ve every right to be unhappy with this It seems far more about trying to get some value from buying the Spring Fibre spine than bringing service to the underserved You could say they’re trying to maximise returns to their shareholders whilst companies suchas Netomnia and Openreach have covered numerous parts of the Garforth and Kippax there are several areas that are still DIG and there is hardly any ducting between the Openreach ground boxes or the properties themselves The one bit I would say is it is a little annoying to see Giggle putting posts up in areas which have recently been “ducted” as part of the OR fibre roll out but then alot of those areas still aren’t live with OR anyway the fibre has past each property but it hasn’t actually been setup to provide service to the properties yet It also doesn’t help that in some of the local posts/comments condemming the poles they have mentioned them being used as 5G transmission points which isn’t true whilst we have had Connexia installing their LoRaWAN technology there is no use of poles for standard wireless internet or 5G I agree that ducted areas should have had their effort to run the fibre in the ducting But then the previous company (Spring) went to the effort of running their fibre in ducts to a cull-de-sac right next to a pole so I’m not sure if they were doing it just for vocal residents or for a particular reason Right now there is a substantial amount of Garforth and Kippax that is served solely by Virgin and the service has deteriorated in recent months due to issues with the backbone of the network needing work Most locals agree we need better service and are understanding that the poles that have been put up aren’t a huge amount If they’re only in the DIG areas that haven’t been upgraded fine If they’re overbuilding Netomnia and Openreach extensively with them not so fine Openreach are able to provide FTTP where there’s no duct to properties as long as they’ve the fibre network in chambers in the street Can see Garforth has a fair amount of unserved areas however Kippax Great Preston and Allerton Bywater don’t In bits of Garforth they are putting poles in streets that already have Openreach or Netomnia full fibre Virgin Media will be putting fibre in their ducts in East Garforth in the next few months Openreach are working on full fibre in East Garforth right now: can see the upgrade progress via Think Broadband’s address level FTTP map combination of ducts to chambers building the FTTP drop on demand and new duct and drops LEEDS LS25 2AZ on Exchange GARFORTH is served by Cabinet 31 Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG partial Direct In Ground FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered LEEDS LS25 2BN on Exchange GARFORTH is served by Cabinet 11 Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Pre built to curtilage Soft LEEDS LS25 2BX on Exchange GARFORTH is served by Cabinet 11 Given the poles are going in where Openreach seem to be enabling FTTP or where there’s existing FTTP I can understand the frustration any idea who the providers are and at what price If there’s not a far superior option to Openreach or Virgin Media’s full fibre this is poles for no purpose besides that they bought the spine network and need to try and monetise it Openreach are installing FTTP ‘on demand’ The vast majority is ready for service and orderable They are doing civils work as required to install (though it’s not particularly quick) They typically seem to be building 5-6 premises at a time as each order comes through Virgin Media dug up the pavements 7-8 years ago as project lightning They are currently upgrading from DOCSIS to XGS-PON Their Nokia OLTs are sat in the cabs ready to start serving They are reducing costs by reducing the amount of poles they are intending to build compared to the predecessor This means that they are lashing fibre over properties in order to connect poles together The way Giggle are acting makes it clear they have no intention of selling services on the network From the first notice of road works to the current end – which covers the entire of Garforth – it will be 4-6 weeks It has been rapid and they refuse to meet with the residents to discuss concerns I fully expect once its been built it will be on the market Considering the existing service I doubt they will make their investment back Kippax does or rather did have unserved areas the problem is that whilst a lot of the area has been enabled for fibre through ducts (And even then that was delayed and only seemed to start as a result of AltNets pushing ahead in the area) it passes the house If you wanted to roll out fibre you would still have to dig up the drives to each property to do it Whilst I understand this as you wouldn’t roll out the red carpet for your competitor from a commercial stance what Giggle are doing in some areas is using the poles purely to distribute to the houses (Not all but some) Completely get the frustration in areas where they are running backbone fibre over ducted areas as that just doesn’t make much sense however there also needs to be an understanding that several residents have prevented or at least made it harder for those to upgrade to fibre by rejecting or complaining about the digging needed to enable each individual property There needs to be a balance as you can see on the current uptake people want fibre but do they want it dug up for each property or do they want a pole That’s one for the residents of each street to decide they dug up a lot of Garforth and Kippax back in 2014/2015 however it’s mostly micro-duct so it can’t be used by other providers easily yes there are lots of properties in Garforth that are FTTP enabled (Not even on-demand but they will come and feed it to your house inclusive of setup) but there are also many areas that aren’t enabled on either side of Ninelands lane (Not directly but the estates near Fairburn Drive and Derwent Avenue) The examples put are there but there is still an unacceptable amount of the area that is only served by VM for FTTP I’ve no doubt that OR will get round to connecting up the majority of these DIG areas that are still not connected at some point but again it still comes round to the issue of the street needing to have some civils for each property to be connected The good news is they tend to connect each property along the way with a toby box but its still a substantial amount of construction that locals also don’t really like either based on the information we have had from Giggle it looks like they have no interest in selling direct to consumers and will remain solely as network operators or will sell it off to another AltNet in due course (Potentially CityFibre as they are in nearby areas such as Woodlesford?) I completely sympathise with the disruption and lack of notice but by the same token several residents are ready for fibre and have no issue with it likewise the local opposition has been very selective (In my opinion) in the areas where they have posted their notice often not putting any posters in areas that have no FTTP connectivity other than VM Whether this is intended or not I don’t know but it’s something interesting This and many other articles show the telecommunications industry for what it is a disorganised chaotic industry that need robust codes of practise and regulation by OFCOM to stop the multitude of overbuilds across the UK have a committee or three & finish with a public inquiry rather than get on & do something practical Literally the opposite of what they are supposed to do We already have virgin and fibre via Openreach and don’t need these unsightly poles and wires all over the place The company is ignoring this fact and just doing what they want Dont think this is the Glasgow Giggle people anymore according to companies house they seem to have all resigned from Giggle Fibre Ltd in November 24 and a new director added Looks like a change of ownership the new director Chris Durkan also runs SDC group purchased Sprint networks at the same time So it could be one of those companies fibre networks division Comments RSS Feed Rail passengers at Garforth station are now benefiting from a newly designed footbridge to access the railway Network Rail is building the fully accessible ‘Beacon’ bridge in West Yorkshire which will soon also be served by two lifts providing step-free access to platforms Garforth station is the first place in the country where the Beacon concept is being built in full The multi-million-pound project began in May 2023 and the lifts are expected to open to passengers this autumn With work finishing on the staircases and footbridge this week it’s now open for passengers to use while the lift work is continuing said: “Completing the installation of the first ‘Beacon’ bridge is a significant achievement in the project and we are now one step closer to making Garforth station fully accessible for passengers The so-called ‘Beacon bridge’ is one of three pilot designs first devised in 2018 as modern options for future bridge accessibility schemes A security feature of the Beacon bridge is to have its side panels made from toughened glass This was an important design consideration so all bridge users can see if other people are also using the bridge or staircases During development it was discovered that standard enclosed footbridges made some passengers feel unsafe especially while travelling alone and at night The footbridge has been built by Network Rail in collaboration with its contractor AmcoGiffen framework director for AmcoGiffen said: “We are proud to celebrate the milestone opening of the new footbridge as part of the ongoing station accessibility improvement project This development marks a considerable step forward in providing an inclusive and accessible travel experience for all passengers.” The multi-million-pound project at Garforth station has been funded by the Government’s ‘Access for All’ station accessibility scheme to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years « Back