SouthGlos Conservatives call for action on broadband ‘notspots’

Two Bradley Stoke Councillors are to call upon South Gloucestershire Council to demand better broadband services from BT and other operators serving the area.

The move follows a decision by Bradley Stoke Town Council to write to BT and Virgin Media to express concern that “Bradley Stoke is not getting a 21st century service for a 21st century town”.

Being without its own telephone exchange (the nearest are at Almondsbury and Filton), many central areas of Bradley Stoke suffer from low broadband speeds over BT-managed telephone lines.

Virgin Media customers generally experience higher connection speeds but their cable network is patchy, with whole streets (particularly the newer ones) having no coverage at all.

Conservative Councillors Robert Jones and John Ashe will present their motion to a meeting of the Full Council on Wednesday 25th March. They will ask the Leader of Council to write to BT to request that the district is made a priority when super-fast broadband is rolled out. They also want the Council to ask other service provides about their plans to improve broadband speeds.

Councillor for Bradley Stoke South, Robert Jones, comments:

“As a Bradley Stoke resident, the poor speed of my broadband connection frustrates me regularly and I am sure that many fellow residents and businesses can sympathise with this.”

“It is not necessarily in the gift of local councils to improve broadband speeds, but by presenting this motion, the whole council can hopefully express to BT and other service providers in the strongest possible terms that South Gloucestershire households and businesses need access to faster broadband speeds.”

Related Links:

• Broadband in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke Faster Broadband Campaign (The Examiner)