Shropshire Star

Fast broadband slow to arrive for Shropshire village

Hundreds of homeowners who were promised high speed broadband this December have been told they will not get it after all.

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Residents in Clun are angry after it was revealed that more than 200 properties will be left in the lurch as it would cost too much to connect them to one of the town's cabinets – despite the exchange being one of two earmarked for an upgrade.

Nigel Hartin, Shropshire councillor for Clun, said the hopes of many residents had been raised and then dashed.

He said: "There are 230 premises to the west of Clun that were expecting to be connected on December 31, but that is now not going to happen."

Councillor Hartin said he would be holding talks with Clun Primary School and Connecting Shropshire next week to see if a fibre optic link in the school might be used to help residents.

The issue was one of the factors that lead to Shropshire and Marches Campaign for Better Rural Broadband members announcing its withdrawal from a partnership with Connecting Shropshire, the scheme led by Shropshire Council and BT to get as much of the county as possible upgraded to super-fast internet speeds.

Chris Taylor, Connecting Shropshire programme manager, said: "The reasons why one cabinet is not included in the plans is because it is unjustifiably expensive at this stage to upgrade.

"This became apparent recently once surveys were completed as it would cost upwards of half a million pounds – from a total budget of £24 million – for one cabinet."

  • See also: Shropshire rural broadband campaign group cuts its ties with authorities

Meanwhile, Ellesmere will receive faster broadband – but not for another two years, a meeting was told.

Chris Taylor, broadband manager from Shropshire Council, said Ellesmere will benefit from improved broadband by the summer of 2016.

Mr Taylor was speaking at a meeting of the Ellesmere Area Local Joint Committee, where he said more than 3,000 properties were set to receive faster broadband.

He revealed 379 properties in Welshampton and Lyneal, and 314 in Cockshutt are set to receive it by the spring of 2016, 1,862 in Ellesmere Urban by the summer of 2016, and 1,002 in Ellesmere Rural by the summer of 2015.

Mr Taylor said: "We are aiming to deliver faster broadband to 72,000 premises across the county. We started in March 2013 and have built about 100 cabinets.

"There are currently five exchange areas which cover this local joint committee and they will not be done at the same time.

"We want to address as many premises as we can, but there will be some winners and some losers."

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