Rural communities may have to go alone for broadband improvements

Hundreds of properties still waiting for superfast service

Remote communities in West Devon may have to take matters into their own hands to improve broadband connectivity so they are not left at the back of the queue in a new government roll-out.

Hundreds of businesses and homes in the borough are struggling with broadband speeds, despite a decade of promises for better connectivity, councillors have claimed.

Project Gigabit is the government’s mechanism for subsidising broadband connectivity, building on the previous programme delivered in Devon by Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS).

CDS has delivered superfast broadband to more than 326,000 properties in the past 12 years but many rural areas still don’t have a servic.

The situation arose when the company working with CDS, Airband, said it wasn’t able to deliver its contract, leading to a significant reduction in the number of premises it would connect.

At West Devon Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny committee, Matt Barrow from CDS said this affected around 2,000 properties in West Devon but it is not the worst off in the region.

Around 93 per cent of properties had been connected in the borough and  some other networks had been started and would be continuing.

He said Project Gigabit had a target to connect all properties nationally by 2030.

There would be some overlap with CDS which “remained focused” on raising properties in the region to at least 30 megabits per second, the definition of Superfast, he said.

CDS is one of 52 bodies across England and Wales appointed to deliver broadband infrastructure using public money to subsidise areas where the market hasn’t invested.

Mr Barrow added that councillors may have to pursue the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) or push for smaller localised contracts under a new government initiative.

Eligible properties can receive up to £4,500 per business or £1,500 per home under the GBVS scheme.

Remote areas with fewest properties are most costly to connect and could be last to be done under larger regional contacts, said Mr Barrow.

Cllr Caroline Mott (Con, Bridestowe), a farmer from Bridestowe, said she dreamed of having a 30 megabit service and despite lots of promises over 10 years, nothing had come to fruition .

“It just seems to be going round and round like the inevitable hamster wheel I get when I am trying to upload and download stuff for my business. It’s just not happening and we keep getting fobbed off,” she said.

Cllr Ric Cheadle (Ind, Buckland Monachorum) said he is still waiting for a community broadband scheme he signed up for in 2015.

“There are options on the table for national, regional and local contracts… but if you are sat in your living room wondering how you are going to get broadband it’s all mumbo jumbo,” he said.

“There is a complete vacuum down at the level of the resident who is completely unable to understand what is going on and no one is telling them.”

Cllr Terry Southcott (Con, Bridestowe) said a number of broadband providers seemed to be working in the same area laying odd bits of cable, yet no work is being completed.

Mr Barrow said there was something of a “Klondike Gold Rush” going on at one point with commercial companies looking for potentially profitable schemes.

“There was an element of spoiler activity where one provider gets wind of another and goes in and lays a bit of fibre cable and ruins the pitch for the other,” he said.

He said CDS is still supporting communities but at the moment it is” a seller’s game.

“You need to get on the radar of a supplier and find someone who will build a network in your area,” he said.

He said West Devon had the least number of properties of any district in England.

“England has an average of 800 properties per square kilometre. You have 27,” he told councillors. “It’s much more expensive to build networks in this region.”