A BRADFORD councillor has hit out at BT after a child was injured at one of the company's "eyesore" exchange buildings in the city.
Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) reported a child injured their hand on a pipe outside the BT exchange building on Cavendish Road, Idle.
Cllr Sunderland visited the site after the incident and said the location was unsecure, had been vandalised, windows had been broken and the grounds used for fires.
She called and wrote to BT Group Properties informing them of the incident and telling them the building was in poor condition, unsafe, dangerous and was an eyesore.
"It's a horrible, shabby-looking building but it has a function," said Cllr Sunderland. "I thought it was derelict. It's not derelict but dangerous.
"People have to put up with this eyesore in the community."
However, she credited BT for coming out to secure the building within four hours of being notified.
She said they fixed a lock on the gate, mended windows, tidied up litter and mowed grass at the site.
"To be fair, they came and made it secure after the child had been hurt."
"I'm still appalled by the state of the building. It's not acceptable."
A BT Group spokesperson said: “We’re investigating reports of an accident involving a member of the public at our Idle telephone exchange building.
"We take any reports such as this very seriously as the health and wellbeing of our colleagues, customers and members of the public who may live next to our operational buildings is our primary focus.
“We maintain our exchanges and buildings depending on local requirements, each building is different.
"Sustainability is important to BT and at some of our properties, we allow grass to grow and cut it less often.
"Our contractor, CBRE, cuts grass, clears rubbish and makes sure our estate is well maintained.
"We encourage our neighbours to report concerns to us by calling the BT Property Helpdesk on 0800 223388.
“Many of our buildings were built some time ago with function rather than appearance in mind.
"As a business we are focused on rolling out more full-fibre and 4G/5G across the UK.
"Long-term, as we build the full-fibre network, some of our properties won’t be needed as technology advances.
"Identifying which buildings we will need is part of our long-term strategic planning and that work won’t be complete for some years.
"In the meantime, we’ll ensure our properties continue to perform their function, keeping phones, broadband, the 999 network and mobile networks, connected.”
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