The deadline for making representations on the New Ridley planning appeal looms fast, so I thought I'd outline the basic points I am making in my response. Before I do that, I will mention that Esh have now also submitted a new planning application to build 16 houses rather than the original 22. I am assuming that if the appeal goes in their favour then they will withdrawn the new application and proceed with the original, so this looks like Plan B in case the appeal is unsuccessful.
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Rollout pushed back to May
A quick update to let you know that the Stocksfield fibre cabinets are now due to go live in May and not March/April as previously advised. We're not sure of the reason for the slippage but assume it is some engineering problem.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
March Broadband Update
iNorthumberland have now given a few more details of the planned availability of fibre-optic broadband for the Stocksfield exchange. I've talked about cabinets before, but here are a picture of two cabinets. The one on the top is part of BT's provision and the one on the bottom has been provided through iNorthumberland's scheme.
Here is a table showing the cabinets that are due to go live during March, April, and May:
Here is a table showing the cabinets that are due to go live during March, April, and May:
Cabinet
|
No. Properties Served
|
Junction of Painshawfield Rd and Apperley
Road
|
337
|
Stocksfield Station
|
399
|
Main Rd opposite Cade Hill Rd
|
132
|
Painshawfield Rd
|
254
|
Branch End (outside Boots)
|
151
|
1273
|
It is not possible to say yet which properties are included in the total figure of 1273, but it is clear that this covers a good proportion of the exchange area.
The information above (and more) can be found in iNorthumberland's West Area Update which you can download here.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Broadband status update
Since learning that the Stocksfield exchange has been pushed up the queue for fibre optic broadband rollout I have been regularly checking the BT website which tells you the status of the telecoms cabinet that provides your phone and broadband connection. (Just enter your postcode at http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/)
Until last week, the Branch End cabinet was showing as a "Future Exchange". Today it is showing as a "Coming Soon" cabinet with a forecast date of June 2014. I am hopeful that it will be even earlier than that, but it's nice to see it approaching all the same.
Until last week, the Branch End cabinet was showing as a "Future Exchange". Today it is showing as a "Coming Soon" cabinet with a forecast date of June 2014. I am hopeful that it will be even earlier than that, but it's nice to see it approaching all the same.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
What now for rural broadband?
Just as things were looking up for rural Northumberland in the superfast broadband stakes, the county council has taken action which, in my opinion, could leave many rural residents without access to a modern broadband service.
As you may recall from earlier posts, the current rollout of superfast broadband (being undertaken by BT (Openreach) in Northumberland) aims to connect 91% of households to the new fibre optic service. Depending on how far you live from your nearest cabinet this would see you getting speeds from between 2 Mbps and 25+ Mbps. The remaining 9% of premises not covered by the rollout would need alternative provision.
Back in 2011 the county council established the iNorthumberland project to ensure that the remaining 9% of premises would also see some uplift in their broadband speeds. The company formed to deliver this is the Arch Group. However, the county council have just made large cuts to the staff base at Arch Group including the Broadband Manager and his team.
As some of the lowest levels of broadband usage in the country are to be found inNorthumberland I am deeply shocked by the news that key staff at Arch Digital have been removed. If the new broadband delivery team has been slashed then our most rural communities will be the ones to suffer. Our campaigning over the last 3 years has driven the extensive work done to try and deliver broadband to our most rural areas. We need County Hall to stick to its commitment to getting decent broadband to every property, not just those which will be reached now thanks to this Government's funding for BT to rollout to 91% of Northumbrian homes.
Whilst I eagerly await the imminent arrival of superfast broadband here in Stocksfield I know that even here, owing to the rural nature of large parts of the area served by the Stocksfield telephone exchange, there are likely to be a significant number of residents who will not benefit from the 91% coverage. Without the broadband delivery team in place at Arch I am very concerned that these remaining households and small businesses will miss out on a vital 21st century service.
As you may recall from earlier posts, the current rollout of superfast broadband (being undertaken by BT (Openreach) in Northumberland) aims to connect 91% of households to the new fibre optic service. Depending on how far you live from your nearest cabinet this would see you getting speeds from between 2 Mbps and 25+ Mbps. The remaining 9% of premises not covered by the rollout would need alternative provision.
Back in 2011 the county council established the iNorthumberland project to ensure that the remaining 9% of premises would also see some uplift in their broadband speeds. The company formed to deliver this is the Arch Group. However, the county council have just made large cuts to the staff base at Arch Group including the Broadband Manager and his team.
As some of the lowest levels of broadband usage in the country are to be found inNorthumberland I am deeply shocked by the news that key staff at Arch Digital have been removed. If the new broadband delivery team has been slashed then our most rural communities will be the ones to suffer. Our campaigning over the last 3 years has driven the extensive work done to try and deliver broadband to our most rural areas. We need County Hall to stick to its commitment to getting decent broadband to every property, not just those which will be reached now thanks to this Government's funding for BT to rollout to 91% of Northumbrian homes.
Whilst I eagerly await the imminent arrival of superfast broadband here in Stocksfield I know that even here, owing to the rural nature of large parts of the area served by the Stocksfield telephone exchange, there are likely to be a significant number of residents who will not benefit from the 91% coverage. Without the broadband delivery team in place at Arch I am very concerned that these remaining households and small businesses will miss out on a vital 21st century service.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
New Ridley: Have your say on the appeal
As I indicated yesterday, Esh have submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against NCC's rejection of their application to build 22 houses in New Ridley. If you would like to make a representation about the appeal to the Planning Inspectorate you can do so at http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/ViewCase.asp?caseid=2213838&coid=115776
The deadline for comments is 8 April, and I encourage anyone with an interest in this case to make representations.
The deadline for comments is 8 April, and I encourage anyone with an interest in this case to make representations.
Appeal Documents
Mike Easey kindly downloaded all 30+ documents relating to the appeal from the NCC web site (see http://publicaccess.northumberland.gov.uk/online-applications/caseDetails.do?action=dispatch&keyVal=MDFAMHQS2L000&caseType=Application).
These have all been assembled into a single PDF file which you can download here. Note, it's a 54MB file, so until we get our superfast broadband it could take a little while to download.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Superfast coming soon! Just as NCC makes the head of Arch redundant
In my last update I talked about cabinets and BT's rollout plans. There have been some recent developments that merit a further update.
Spring is here
You may have noticed new green boxes sprouting up on pavements around the village. These are the cabinets that will provide the new superfast broadband. Three have appeared on the A695: one outside Boots, one opposite the entrance to Cade Hill Road, and one down by the railway station. Here are a couple of pictures of the new one at Branch End outside Boots.
It's not terribly pretty, and I'm not sure why it has been placed so far from the wall, but at least it will be giving us faster broadband!
In the original rollout plans the Stocksfield exchange was scheduled for the fibre optic broadband upgrade in late 2014. Some recent scheduling changes mean that Stocksfield has now been brought forward a quarter and some householders could be benefiting from a superfast connection very soon, several months earlier than originally anticipated. Details on which cabinets will go live and in what order will be provided nearer the time, but I am working with iNorthumberland to organise a publicity event to take place in April to let residents find out full details of what will be available and when.
Problems at Arch
No sooner does it look like the superfast broadband rollout is picking up than NCC have decided remove the head of Arch, the company set up to oversee Northumberland's broadband rollout. Anne-Marie Trevelyan from Berwick gave her perspective earlier today:
I am very dismayed by today's announcement that Northumberland County Council have decided to make the recently appointed director at Arch, responsible for broadband rollout, redundant- just as all the key work needs to be done to reach the 90% of premises included in the first rollout, and then work on some clever planning for the last 10% presently not planned for.
Perhaps the Labour administration's focus on making these bad budget cut decisions (which will have longterm negative impact on the future economic development of rural Northumberland), explains why no-one from County Hall was lobbying Westminster to ask for a fair proportion of the next £250 million announced today.
Due to Labour councillors' lack of interest in the economic future of rural Northumberland, we have only been allocated £650,000- against North Yorkshire's £10million or Durham's £3.8 million. When will our elected representatives start fighting our corner?
I have written to the Secretary of State, Maria Miller MP, at DCMS today to try to find out why we have had such a poor commitment, & what we can do to access more funding, since we have one of the hardest to reach areas left to get broadband to in Northumberland. Funds should flow to these areas rather than to those easy-to-fulfil (& probably economic for BT anyway) through expected growth.
Rural Northumberland deserves a better deal & a fair share of resources from local & central Government.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)