Burnham-On-Sea’s MP James Heappey is among a group of eight MPs across the south west who have this week spoken out about the slow roll-out of superfast broadand in rural areas.
He is among eight MPs – Neil Parish, James Heappey, Anne-Marie Morris, Rebecca Pow, David Warburton, Gary Streeter, Sir Hugo Swire, Sarah Wollaston – who have signed a sternly-worded letter calling on Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) to “take responsibility now” for the delays.
“We have given CDS time and patience against our better judgement,” say the MPs.
At present, the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) project is working with Openreach (BT), Gigaclear and wireless ISP Airband to extend the reach of ‘superfast broadband’ (internet speeds of 30Mbps+) across the region, including the Burnham-On-Sea area, and overall they aim to cover 96% of all premises by 2020, up from the current 86%.
In June 2018 the £171m CDS project revealed that Gigaclear’s phase 2 roll-out in the area had been slowed by the fallout from contractor Carillion’s collapse. Nevertheless, CDS said it still expected to complete on time. Telent took over from the Carilliion telent partnership and the provider also introduced additional resources as well as other contractors to compensate. But it appears that those delays were more significant than expected.
Burnham-On-Sea’s MP is among the politicians who are unhappy. In the letter, they write: “As Devon and Somerset MPs, we know the transformational impact superfast broadband will have in the constituencies we represent.”
“Indeed, many families and businesses across our region are already benefiting from superfast upload and download speeds. But many others aren’t. And it’s those, particularly in rural areas, who are being left behind as the country moves online.”
“In July 2018, meetings with Gigaclear confirmed they were behind schedule on phase 2 delivery, but representatives promised they would catch up with delays and deliver on time. In October, just last week, it was confirmed this would no longer be the case as Gigaclear were in ‘significant delay’.”
“This is clearly not good enough. As MPs, we have fought tooth and nail to deliver central government funding for CDS projects. We have given CDS time and patience against our better judgement. We have lobbied commercial providers to get better broadband services to our constituents. We have tussled with a myriad of bureaucratic obstacles, including state and business contracts, to try and find solutions.” first on Burnham-On-Sea.com
“Unfortunately, there is nothing superfast about the CDS rollout programme. In fact, its lack of resource and inflexibility have served on many occasions to delay better broadband for our constituents. A dearth of transparency, slow action and a poor level of contact with CDS and their chosen contractors have left Devon and Somerset residents in the dark. They deserve better.”
“It is time for CDS to take responsibility now, fund an interim solution, redeploy Gainshare funds and immediately extend the voucher scheme for our constituents.”
“We cannot and will not continue to make excuses for the dire performance of CDS and its contractors.”
Mike Surrey, Gigaclear CEO, said: “On behalf of Gigaclear plc, I would like to apologise for the delays in delivering a full fibre network across rural Devon and Somerset. Whilst the first customers are now connected in East Devon, the project is running significantly behind schedule and we accept our performance to date has fallen short of the high standards that we set for ourselves.”
“However, with new ownership and with a new management team now in place, we have been able to review every aspect of this project in detail, to identify where problems have occurred, and to move quickly to put in place remedies to prevent them happening again. We would like to assure all stakeholders that Gigaclear will absorb any additional costs incurred and commit that there will not be any increases to the level of public subsidy.”
“We share your frustrations that the delays are causing and would like to reassure you that we remain committed to delivering fast broadband services to the region.”
