Boost for Baschurch as phone mast set up
A new mast has been put up in a Shropshire village in an attempt to boost mobile phone signal in the area.
The mast has been installed at Baschurch Recreation Ground, adjacent to the village hall, but has not yet been connected.
Councillor Nick Bardsley, Shropshire councillor for Ruyton and Baschurch, said he was pleased the mast had finally been installed.
Historically Baschurch has suffered from very poor mobile signal, which has caused issues for both residents and businesses.
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Shared Access has partnered with CTIL, providing coverage for O2 and Vodafone customers, to build the mast.
Last year Shared Access approached the parish council to see if it would be interested in leasing a small part of the recreational ground in exchange for a capital investment into the parish.
Councillor Bardsley said: "We have finally got a mast installed but it hasn't been connected yet. I am hopeful that will get sorted soon and residents will notice a big difference."
He said rural areas around Ruyton and Baschurch were also struggling with poor broadband speeds and that he was working with North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson to tackle this.
He added: "The other big issue is broadband.
"There is high speed fibre broadband available in Baschurch and Ruyton XI Towns, but all the surrounding areas need it as well.
"The broadband in Weston Lullingfields is dreadful and it is non-existent in Yeaton.
"We are putting pressure on BT to sort this. For people trying to run small businesses it is a nightmare."
This week Shropshire Council's cabinet approved a preferred bidder for the £11.7 million contract to provide broadband to 16,000 homes for phase 2b of Connecting Shropshire.
The latest phase is intended to tackle some of the county's most troublesome not-spots, providing superfast broadband.
Shropshire Council invited companies to bid for the contract to supply the connections, which are predicted to help 13,259 homes in the east of the county, and 2,756 in the west.
The winners of the contacts have been notified but will not be revealed.
EU rules means that there is a standstill period which allow time to challenge the process.
