A rural village plagued by internet problems is to have more than £120,000 invested in bringing fiber broadband to the area for the first time after 18 months of effort by residents.
Delighted villagers in Nangreaves say the improvements will bring ‘massive benefits’, particularly for the increased number who are working from home and have seen their connection to the web crash repeatedly.
The community took advantage of the Gigabit Voucher Scheme which is part of the department for media, culture & sport’s initiative to improve rural broadband speeds.
Rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 100Mbps can use vouchers worth £1,500 per home and up to £3,500 for each small to medium-sized business to support the cost of installing new fast cable connections.
Chris Liston, from Mount Pleasant has been leading the campaign to get better connection and organising many of the approximate 80 households there to sign up for the vouchers.
He said: “This will have a big positive impact for all the residents of Nangreaves.
“Our current broadband limps along and has caused issues for the many residents who have been working from home for the last eight months.
“One of the residents here is a trainer for NHS systems and a couple of times it’s been so bad she has not been able to deliver a training session.
“The clincher for getting this over the line, after 18 months’ effort, was Peel Land and Property Environmental agreeing to sign a contract with Openreach to underwrite the £61,000 in vouchers claimed by people and businesses in the village.
“The £61,000 will be matched by Openreach to pay for the scheme.
“We have received notification from Openreach that their criteria for laying fibre to Nangreaves have been met.
“This will give us the capability of receiving up to 1,000 Mbps broadband, although the current maximum from suppliers is 300-500 Mbps.”
The work is set to happen within the next 12 months.
Source: https://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/18853584.broadband-boost-village-home-workers/