Ultrafast Broadband update

22nd April 2021

This project will go ahead! A good number of eligible residents pledged and validated their vouchers. We have exceeded the minimum required by Openreach to enable FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) to be installed on the estate and the additional funds will help should some unforeseen funding problem arise.

An explanation is due to several residents who originally expressed interest in the scheme but have subsequently been excluded from it. This is due entirely to Openreach submitting an incorrect list of ‘interested’ residents to DCMS (Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), who issue the vouchers despite me having provided a correct one on three separate occasions.

Those whose addresses were not on the submitted list are not eligible for a voucher, but fortunately we still have enough interested residents to reach the numbers required.

A few residents received two vouchers, usually the second one was “cancelled”. Openreach have not explained why, but I don’t expect it to impact the project.

Openreach will now start the process of claiming the validated vouchers from DCMS, beginning surveys of the estate and installing the fibre network from the exchange. They plan to do all this within one year! Once installed everyone on the estate (and others in the vicinity of the fibre route) should be able to take advantage of the increased speeds. So those who didn’t get a chance to join the initial project should still be able to enjoy the benefits of the faster speeds at a later date.

Many thanks to everyone who has made this project possible. I will keep you informed as things progress!