I am sitting here late at night on bedtime duty. We have a little one who has difficulty settling at night, therefore I have taken this opportunity to provide an update to the Normandy Gigabit Broadband Scheme as I type away next to him and he struggles to sleep! Hopefully, the dulcet tones of the keyboard will encourage him to sleep!
Updates are as follows:
Scheme Progress to date:
Phase 1 - Core Project.
The latest from Openreach is as follows:
I have looked at the notes on your scheme and it is literally with the commercial team in the DCMS being reviewed. I do appreciate the time this is taking but unfortunately, our hands are tied.
I will speak to the desk team to try to get an idea of how long this will take and will let you know.
All we can do is sit and wait I'm afraid, however when we do get approval it is going to be very exciting!
NEXT ACTION: Wait.
Phase 2 - South (Southern part of Glaziers Lane)
We have received the quote back from Openreach which covers 96x properties and costs £1,358 per household.
I have sat down with representation from the Normandy Parish Council to review the coverage associated with this scheme. In the list of 94, there were listed a few addresses that do not exist and some addresses which represent extremities of the scheme that did not request inclusion in the scheme. We are also looking at the cost associated with running the scheme to the railway bridge and not beyond. Should the scheme progress without including those south of the bridge then the Parish Council will work with Virgin and Openreach to build a plan to deliver fast internet to properties that lack access to fast internet in this area.
This information has been submitted to Openreach in order to revise its calculations. We await feedback.
NEXT ACTION: Await costings back from Openreach.
Phase 2 - East (Past Motorbike shop and Bailes Lane)
We have a tentative figure of £96,500 to cover 90x properties which works out at £1070 per property. We currently have 35x properties that have responded to me in the East with a total commitment figure of £62,500. In order for Openreach to go ahead with the work, we would need to pledge £125k in vouchers in this area.
We have decided to go to contract on this scheme with a view to registering this as a Community Led Scheme. It is critical to note that we will need more volunteers in the area to get to the level of funding required to do the work!
NEXT ACTION: Press Ahead! Wait for a final contract.
Phase 2 - North (Pirbright Road)
The data has been submitted, however, the cost per property is coming out at over £6000 per property. This means that Openreach is looking into this more closely. This is likely to be due to the size of the area combined with the few houses in this location. My gut feel is that unless the community in this area wish to contribute to the cost of an upgrade that it probably will not happen.
NEXT ACTION: Awaiting final quote.
Phase 2 - West (from Wyke School to the Curzon
We have a tentative figure of £23,909 to cover 74x properties which works out at £323 per property. This is really low. We have £32,000 of committed coverage meaning that there would be no problem in getting fast broadband delivered to this area if we went ahead with this as a standalone project.
Properties here are connected to the Ash Exchange therefore this scheme cannot be combined with any other.
It makes sense to move ahead with this scheme, however, the Parish Council noted that the Wyke Estate is not included. I will be looking to reach out to Wyke to see if there is interest in the area for them to be added to the scheme.
NEXT ACTION: NEXT ACTION: Press Ahead. Await final contract. Engage with Wyke quickly to see if they wish to be added to the scheme.
In summary - some movement in some areas, we wait in others.
Happy Christmas - I estimate the next update between Christmas and New Year.
And he is asleep!
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