BT telephone exchange in Oakham, Rutland, set for spruce up after resident’s two-year campaign

A town building is set to be spruced up thanks to the persistence of a fed-up resident.

Martin Ball described it as his ‘David versus Goliath’ moment after exchanging more than 60 emails with BT over the state of their telephone exchange building in Northgate, Oakham.

“Some years ago I noticed that one building, which is slap bang in the middle of Oakham’s conservation area, was letting the side down,” he recalled.

Martin first contacted the multinational telecoms company in May 2021 asking them to ‘tidy the place up and give it a lick of paint’.

“I didn’t get a response, so on July 29, 2022 I wrote to Philip Jansen, the CEO of BT Group plc,” he added.

“I had to write to Mr Jansen again on January 20, 2023 and had to follow that up with two more emails to him.”

Martin said he exchanged a further 58 emails with BT and its contract maintenance company before his persistence finally paid off.

He has been told that work to smarten up the exchange will start in the week beginning September 18.

It is said to include over-cladding, painting and the removal of the rusty gates for shotblasting and painting before their return.

“It seems if you are persistent enough, and have a good enough case, a private individual can grind down a major plc and drag them into taking action,” he said.

“Hopefully those who live on Northgate and anyone walking along Church Street, who look over to the car park, will notice some improvement soon.”