The Bradley Stoke Journal

The planned investment of nearly £3m of taxpayers’ money into broadband infrastructure within South Gloucestershire might still leave Bradley Stoke without superfast broadband in 2015, according to a report accepted by Councillors at a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Cabinet has agreed to add £2.2m of its own money to the £710k allocated by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) agency, which is aiming to “make the UK’s broadband the best in Europe by 2015”.

Commercial providers are expected to bring superfast broadband to 82% of premises in the district by 2015, leaving the remaining 18% reliant on public money, but the Council says its target is to bring 24Mbps+ broadband to only 90% of premises, meaning that more than half of the “don’t haves” could be left disappointed.

The only consolation is that those that don’t get superfast speeds will be guaranteed a minimum ‘basic broadband’ speed of 2Mbps (around one quarter of the UK average speed today but likely to be viewed by many as inadequate by 2015).

Detailed broadband coverage maps published by Wiltshire County Council (SGC’s new partner after its original consortium with Bristol and BANES disintegrated) reveal that the Council is NOT expecting BT to upgrade the Almondsbury exchange on a commercial basis within the next three years. The maps also show, for the first time, the parts of Bradley Stoke that are plagued with sub-2Mbps provision, at the granularity of individual postcode areas.

Around 4,000 premises in Bradley Stoke are thought to suffer from sub-standard broadband speeds because they are not served by Virgin Media’s cable network and are too away far from the two BT telephone exchanges that serve the town.

More: New maps published by Wiltshire County Council clearly show the extent of the broadband problems in Bradley Stoke »

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South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has responded to criticism of its leisurely approach to dealing with broadband infrastructure problems by forming a new partnership with the neighbouring county of Wiltshire, whose plans are claimed to be “the most advanced in the country”.

South Gloucestershire had previously been working with Bristol City Council and Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) after being assigned a collective pot of £1.4 million from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) in August but the BANES Cabinet recently voted to decline the Government cash after it realised it would have to match fund it to the tune of £1 million.

SGC’s recent launch of a lengthy 13-month public consultation in which businesses and residents are being asked to “register interest in receiving improved broadband connectivity” triggered an avalanche of negative comments from Journal readers, many of whom are struggling with sub-standard connections in non-cabled areas of Bradley Stoke.

The same sentiment was echoed by local MP Jack Lopresti speaking in the House of Commons yesterday when he said that progress made by Conservative-run SGC had “not been as quick as I and some of my constituents would like”.

Another South Gloucestershire MP, Lib Dem Pensions Minister Steve Webb, was also recently critical of SGC’s progress on broadband, saying the Council had been “particularly slow on the issue and has not yet even submitted a plan [to BDUK]“.

More: Installation to start by December 2012, says Council »

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South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and other local authorities in England that have so far failed to publish plans for improving broadband infrastructure in their areas have been set a deadline by Whitehall officials concerned that the Government’s promise of delivering the “best broadband in Europe” by 2015 could be in jeopardy.

The news comes three weeks after South Gloucestershire Council launched a lengthy 13-month public consultation in which residents and businesses are being asked to “register interest in receiving improved broadband connectivity”, which triggered an avalanche of negative comments from dismayed Journal readers.

An impatient Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has now ordered all authorities to submit a draft Local Broadband Plan by the end of February 2012. Plans must be agreed with the Government by the end of April and procurement of equipment must begin within a further three months.

Any authority that has not begun procurement by by the end of July is likely to see the Government stepping in to take remedial action.

In the Government’s original plan for the delivery of superfast broadband published in December 2010, local authorities were expected to submit detailed bids for a specific share of the £530m funding. By April 2011, so few Councils had submitted plans that the Government abandoned the bidding process and decided to allocate the remaining money based on its own assessment of local needs.

The West of England (South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset and Bristol) was allocated £1.4 million from the fund in August 2011. Since then, BANES has voted against accepting its share of the Government money, which must be match-funded by each Council. The Journal has also heard a rumour that SGC is considering leaving the West of England group to pair up with another local authority whose broadband plans are more advanced.

More: Almondsbury exchange misses out again in latest BT announcement »

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South Gloucestershire Council wants local residents and businesses to complete an online survey to demonstrate the demand for a better broadband service in Bradley Stoke and other parts of the district but seems to have forgotten to tell anybody about it!

A consultation entitled “Improved broadband for South Gloucestershire – Resident’s survey” began on Monday 28th November and runs until 31st December but, ten days in to the 33 day consultation period, the Council has not yet given the survey any credible publicity. [Ed: I've assumed the end date of 31st Dec 2012 should read 31st Dec 2011 - see comments below]

Whilst many residents of Bradley Stoke will question why the survey is needed, having already demonstrated a massive local demand through BT’s Race to Infinity competition a whole twelve months ago, the Council says the exercise is necessary in order to secure Government funding for broadband improvements in areas deemed unviable by commercial suppliers such as BT and Virgin Media.

A partnership formed of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire Council’s was assigned £1.4m for broadband infrastructure improvements by the Government in August and the Councils have been asked to submit a ‘local broadband plan’ as the first stage in the process of securing the cash. The Government money, which must be match-funded by the Councils, will be used to pay telecommunications companies to install superfast broadband in commercially unviable areas.

The current survey is being undertaken in order to gather evidence that (hopefully) proves there will be enough demand to generate sufficient revenue for the telecommunications providers once the equipment has been installed.

More: South Gloucestershire is "lagging behind", says Government Minister »

Bradley Stoke Radio stages its own version of Question Time tonight when a panel of local politicians take part in a live debate on “the key issues facing people in Bradley Stoke”.

The event, compered by Julian Okoye, will hear representatives of the three main parties debate questions sent in by listeners.

Mr Okoye told The Journal:

“The intention is that the debate will cover mainly local issues pertaining to Bradley Stoke and surroundings but inevitably, as people don’t live in a box, some national issues may be touched upon as well.”

The participants in the studio are expected to be (pictured left to right above):

• Cllr Ben Walker (Conservative)
• Jon Williams (Liberal Democrat)
• Jonathan Moore (Labour)

All three panelists contested the Bradley Stoke North ward in the recent district election, which saw Cllr Walker claim the seat by a margin of 139 votes over Mr Williams, the previous holder.

In an email to the panelists, Mr Okoye wrote:

“I will generally be my nice gentle friendly self but I won’t shy away from asking difficult or tough questions and I am sure you won’t expect me to be a soft touch either.”

The public are invited to submit question for the debate to: julian@bradleystokeradio.org.uk

Read on for questions The Editor would like to hear answered »

Broadband Minister Ed Vaizey, in town last week to help launch the Conservatives’ local election manifesto, met officials at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) to “discuss options” for improving the area’s broadband speeds.

The talks came just a day after BT had announced that it is to upgrade the Filton exchange (0117 numbers) to its Infinity superfast broadband technology in 2012.

Almondsbury (01454), the other exchange serving Bradley Stoke, has so far been overlooked in BT’s rollout programme and it is looking increasingly likely that some form of Council/Government subsidy will be required to bring superfast broadband to the remainder of our town.

Local MP Jack Lopresti, who had invited Mr Vaizey to his constituency, told The Journal:

“The news that both the Filton and Winterbourne exchanges will have access to superfast broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps by the end of next year is very good news for both local residents and the local economy in general.”

“However, I was disappointed that the Almondsbury exchange that serves many Bradley Stoke residents in particular was once again overlooked.

“I have been working with BT and South Gloucestershire Council to see how we can improve the situation. I invited Ed Vaizey, the Communications Minister, to meet with the Council on Friday [8th April]. The Council recognise the problems that residents in some areas face with broadband speeds and are making plans to improve the situation.”

“The Minister gave us some very helpful advice and I hope that more good news will be announced soon. Projects of this kind do take time and money, but I would like to assure residents that we are working hard to solve the problem.”

Read on to find out about Government funding available to SGC »