Councils’ broadband demands fall on deaf ears

Bradley Stoke Town Council’s efforts to get utility companies to provide faster broadband connections in the town have come to nothing according to Town Clerk David Chandler.

Back in February, the Council’s Planning Committee instructed the Clerk to write to telecommunications giants BT and Virgin Media demanding a “21st Century service for a 21st Century town”.

The move was followed by a huge leaflet drop in the town by local Conservative activists, in which Mayor Mayor Forsyth was quoted as saying:

“Access speeds endured by some residents are very poor due to the distance to the BT exchanges. Without cable connections or the new Fibre to Cabinet technology there is little chance of improvement.”

The issue even featured on the West edition of the BBC’s Politics Show in June, where Cllr Robert Jones was interviewed in one of the town’s broadband ‘slow spots’.

When asked at a recent Council meeting if anything had come of the Council’s demands, the Clerk reported that no reply had been received from either of the companies.

Frustrated Councillors now say they have run out of ideas on how to achieve an improvement in broadband speeds in Bradley Stoke.

Similar efforts made by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) have also ended in frustration according to Cllr Jones. A motion agreed in March by the Conservative-led Unitary Council called on the Council Leader to write to BT “requesting that South Gloucestershire is made a top priority when super-fast broadband is rolled out”.

In contrast to the Town Council, SGC did apparently receive a reply to its letter, but Cllr Jones says its content was “disappointing”.

The Bradley Stoke Examiner’s campaign to urge Virgin Media to complete its cable network in the town has so far attracted 226 supporters, but the firm says it will only “consider” doing the work if 1500 people sign up.

Further Information:

• Broadband in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke Cable My Street Campaign (The Examiner)