ANGRY villagers say they are prepared to be arrested to stop broadband poles being erected on their estate.

Residents across The Sands estate in the Cotswold village of Broadway have rallied against Full Fibre Ltd, which plans to erect 22 broadband poles in the estate and a further 21 elsewhere in the village. 

Amanda Gray, who has lived on the estate for over 20 years, said residents plan to park on the pavements to prevent Full Fibre from going ahead with their plans.

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"It is mindboggling," she said.

"It is an area of outstanding natural beauty, and it is horrific what Full Fibre plans to do to our beautiful village.

"Residents will have to resort to physically stopping them and talking to them."

David Owen has been a resident of Parker Place since 1998 and said residents are keeping the battlefront ready. 

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"We already have a chainsaw if they put any up.

"There are at least three residents who I know will physically stop them - if the police come or we are arrested, we will still do it as we do not want the poles up.

"Some mothers have cried as they do not want the poles outside their home - it has been very distressing.

"One old lady is distraught."

Residents said they are not against Full Fibre but would like the work to be done "properly by using the existing underground infrastructure". 

A spokesperson for Full Fibre said: "We understand that poles can be deemed to be visually intrusive and that they can be unpopular with some, but they are a critical element of our infrastructure, and they are the mode of delivery for fibre to the premises (or FTTP) for around 80% of the population in the UK.

"We hope local residents can understand the importance of this build and recognise the very positive impact that this new infrastructure will have."

Last week, residents experienced a false alarm after seeing workers enter their estate.

It led to a "blockade" where cars were parked on the estate's pavements, blocking workers from entering.

However, it turned out the workers were unrelated to Full Fibre or their rollout of broadband poles. 

Ms Gray added: "I have never seen this community be brought together so much, but it is a shame it is under such a horrific proposal."