The Bradley Stoke Journal

Representatives from the Bradley Stoke Journal recently attended a meeting organised by South Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats to discuss the state of play in the campaign to bring faster broadband to our town.

The meeting, attended by representatives from telecoms giants BT and Virgin Media, was organised to demonstrate the Lib Dems’ manifesto commitment to “work with all South Gloucestershire residents to progress the issues that matter to you”.

Also at the meeting were two local Lib Dem MPs: Steve Webb (Minister for Pensions) and Don Foster (Chair of the Lib Dem Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport), Cllr Ruth Davis (Leader of South Gloucestershire Lib Dem Group), Cllr Jon Williams and local Lib Dem campaigner Sachin Singhal.

The meeting, on 19th March, came two weeks after  Bradley Stoke  had once again been wheeled out into the media spotlight as an extreme example of an area where broadband speeds come nowhere near to the “up to” speeds touted by providers in their product advertising.

The Journal’s Editor kicked off the meeting with a overview of the local effort in last year’s BT Race to Infinity competition, which saw the Almondsbury exchange finish in a creditable 19th place (from 2,495 eligible exchanges). That result was short of a top five placing (since extended to the ten top) that would have guaranteed a prompt upgrade to superfast fibre optic broadband for the exchange’s area of coverage.

Hopes had been high that the level of demand demonstrated in the competition would lead to the exchange featuring sooner rather than later in BT’s phased rollout of its Infinity product to the two-thirds of the country deemed commericially viable.

However, those hopes were dashed when a BT media release given to BBC Radio Bristol on 2nd March suggested that Bradley Stoke had been categorised as being within the so-called “final third” of the country that the industry insists will require public sector subsidy.

Read on to hear what BT and Virgin Media had to say at the meeting »

Votes calling for the Almondsbury telephone exchange, which serves much of Bradley Stoke, to be upgraded to superfast fibre optic broadband have reached the 800 mark.

BT’s nationwide Race to Infinity competition calls on residents and business to vote for their local exchange to be upgraded and the five areas gaining the most votes, as a percentage of the total number of subscribers, will be fast-tracked through the upgrade process.

Leaflets advertising the competition have been delivered by enthusiastic residents and Town Councillors to more than 3,000 homes in the town, resulting in a surge in the voting figures for our two local exchanges, Almondsbury and Filton.

Recent contributors to the community-driven campaign include a group of Bradley Stoke Liberal Democrats (photo, above), who leafleted over two hundred homes last Saturday and Cllrs Brian Hopkinson and Sarah Pomfret (both Conservative, representing Stoke Lodge and Central Bradley Stoke), who have funded a fourth campaign banner.

The new banner is now on show over the shop front of  Global Equity, main agents for the Stroud & Swindon Building Society, on the A38 at Patchway.

Read on to find out how to vote in the Race to Infinity »

The delivery of leaflets to more than 3,000 homes in Bradley Stoke has resulted in a surge in the number of votes cast for our two local telephone exchanges in BT’s Race to Infinity competition.

The national competition, which calls on residents to demonstrate demand for faster broadband speeds in their area by voting on a special BT website, will see the five areas gaining the most votes by the end of the year fast-tracked for the installation of fibre optic broadband.

The Almondsbury exchange (01454 prefix), which serves much of Bradley Stoke, has seen its tally jump by around 200 over the last seven days to stand at 687 votes, giving it a sporting chance of meeting the qualifying level of 1,000 votes by 31st December.

Current projections suggest that, if the momentum can be sustained, the exchange would be one of only 16 in the country (out of 2,495 eligible exchanges) to satisfy the terms of BT’s Race to Infinity challenge, putting it in a very strong position for being included in the next round of fibre optic upgrades to be announced early next year.

If you haven’t yet done so, please visit www.racetoinfinity.bt.com now to cast your vote.

Anyone with a landline is entitled to vote – you don’t need to be a BT customer. So even if you’re a Virgin Media customer already enjoying superfast broadband speeds, please take a few seconds to help the less fortunate in our community. Entering the competition does not oblige you to take any services from BT.

The Journal would like to thank the Bradley Stoke Harvester for sponsoring the campaign leaflets and the twenty or so volunteers (including three Town Councillors) who braved icy weather conditions to deliver them. Further sponsorship from the Willow Brook Centre, CJ Hole and Fortyfour Creative has funded banners and posters that have been put up around the Filton, Almondsbury and Bradley Stoke area to raise awareness of the campaign.

The recent leafleting initiative focused on streets that are currently not served by Virgin Media’s cable network [see list here] and residents in those streets were also asked to register their interest in Virgin’s services via a new Bradley Stoke ‘Cable my Street‘ campaign, which will be officially launched next week.

Read on to find out how YOU could help bring faster broadband to our area »

Local MP Jack Lopresti visted the Willow Brook Centre on Saturday to join Town Councillors in welcoming support from Bradley Stoke businesses in the campaign to bring faster broadband connections to the town.

About 2,000 homes in Bradley Stoke have very poor broadband speeds because they are too far away from the BT exchanges at Filton and Almondsbury and their streets are not cabled by Virgin Media.

Mr Lopresti has vowed to make the fight to secure faster, more reliable, broadband coverage across his constituency one of his top priorities and he recently met Communications Minister Ed Vaizey to discuss the problem.

The Bradley Stoke Journal has been urging local residents to vote in the Race to Infinity, a nationwide competition being run by BT, that will see the five areas registering the most votes fast-tracked for the installation of superfast fibre optic broadband.

Vote now at: www.racetoinfinity.bt.com

N.B. You don’t need to be a BT customer in order to vote. Even if you are content with the broadband speeds you are getting (perhaps because you are a Virgin Media customer), please take a few seconds to vote and help those who are less fortunate.

Generous financial support from the Willow Brook Centre, CJ Hole and the new Bradley Stoke Harvester restaurant has funded the printing of banners and posters to publicise the BT competition, which runs until the end of year.

The sponsorship has also facilitated the printing of 5,000 leaflets to publicise the BT competition and a further 2,000 leaflets to promote a second campaign front that will demonstrate the demand for Virgin Media to complete its cable network in the town.

All the publicity material has been designed free of charge by local graphics design firm Fortyfour Creative, one of many local firms that say their business is seriously affected by being in a broadband ‘slowspot’.

A team of volunteers from the local community is being assembled to distribute leaflets to the 2,000 homes in the 52 Bradley Stoke streets that aren’t currently on the Virgin Media network. The remaining leaflets will be distributed through schools, community centres, libraries, pubs, shops and local businesses.

Read on to find out how YOU can get involved in the campaign »

The Bradley Stoke Journal is seeking volunteers to help promote its campaign for better broadband in the area after receiving sponsorship of £500 from two local businesses.

The money will be used to print banners, posters and leaflets for display and distribution around Filton, Almondsbury & Bradley Stoke.

The initial focus of the campaign will be to encourage residents and businesses to register a vote in BT’s Race to Infinity competition, which offers the chance of getting our local telephone exchanges fast-tracked for the installation of superfast fibre broadband.

Have you voted yet? If not, please do it now – it only takes a few seconds.

To vote, go to: www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/html-version

Subject to the outcome of local MP Jack Lopresti’s ongoing discussions with Virgin Media, we hope that the scope of the campaign will very soon be expanded to gather evidence (signatures/emails) to show  that there is sufficient consumer demand for Virgin to complete its cable network in Bradley Stoke.

Full details of the publicity campaign and the business sponsors behind it will be revealed shortly but, in the meantime, we are asking residents to volunteer their services for the distribution of posters and flyers and the canvasing of up to 2,000 homes in the worst-affect broadband ‘slowspots’.

Subject to recruiting sufficient volunteers, we will running a stall this weekend (13/14th November) in the Willow Brook Centre mall, where shoppers will be able to vote ‘there and then’ in the BT Race to Infinity.

This is an ambitious plan and we will need the help of scores people to bring it to fruition. Local businesses have set the ball rolling with their generous sponsorship; now it’s time for the community to rise to the challenge.

Please email us now on bb4fabs@bradleystokejournal.co.uk to volunteer your services.

Read on to see the current Race to Infinity standings for our local exchanges and learn more about how you can help the campaign »

The Journal’s campaign for better broadband speeds in Bradley Stoke and the surrounding area has got off to a flying start with more than 270 residents registering votes to have the Almondsbury telephone exchange fast-tracked for upgrading to fibre optic broadband.

The Better Broadband for Filton, Almondsbury & Bradley Stoke (BB4FABS) campaign was launched a fortnight ago and began by urging residents to vote in BT’s Race to Infinity competition.

In its first week, the campaign received coverage on the BBC website and also on BBC Radio Bristol’s Breakfast Show, where local businessman Rob Wilson of Fortyfour Creative described the difficulties of trying to run a high-tech business on the 0.63Mbps connection that he gets at his Diana Gardens home.

Bradley Stoke Town Council is helping the campaign by promoting the Race to Infinity competition on its website and Mayor Ben Walker says he has written to neighbouring Councils asking them for support.

The Race to Infinity competition is open to both business and residential telephone users and it is important to note that you don’t need to be a BT customer in order to vote. So, even if you are a Virgin Media customer and already have fast broadband, please help your less fortunate townsfolk by registering a vote now!

The Journal’s Editor has urged all Town Councillors to register a vote for their private lines and (where applicable) for their business numbers. The Town Council itself has also promised to register votes for all its premises.

Read on for news of a possible change of heart by Virgin Media »