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23
Jul 2023
Rural homes in North Yorkshire could face years of poor broadband
Some rural homes in North Yorkshire could face years of poor broadband, a public meeting in Masham heard this week.
Cllr Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, who cited rural connectivity as a key issue during her successful campaign this year to represent Masham and Fountains as a Liberal Democrat on North Yorkshire Council, organised the meeting.
Representatives of NYnet, the North Yorkshire Council-owned company set up to increase digital connectivity in the county, said 895 premises in Masham and Fountains currently didn't have access to super-fast broadband.
They said the third phase of Nynet's Superfast North Yorkshire project, which is due to end in March next year, should reduce this number by 594, leaving 301 homes unable to get 30 Mbps — the speed required to be classed 'superfast'.
Robert Ling, speaking at the meeting.
Robert Ling, director of transformation at the council, said superfast coverage across North Yorkshire was expected to be 97% by March.
Mr Ling said this represented significant progress "but this is cold comfort to people here who don't have it".
Project Gigabit, the £5 billion government programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband, would reach more homes but Mr Ling admitted there was no timeframe on when all premises would be reached.
Many of the 40 people who attended the meeting at Masham Town Hall expressed frustration at the WiFi they received.
Masham Town Hall. Pic: David Dixon
One said it was a "dreadful service that's not fit for purpose" and another commented that their WiFi frequently went down whenever it rained hard, making it difficult to run a business.
Mr Ling said because Project Gigabit was a government scheme, and this dependence on central government along with other factors such as cost made it difficult for NYnet to accurately predict what will happen after March next year,
NYnet chair Peter Scrope said the organisation would probably have to run its own project to help the hardest to reach homes.
NYnet chair Peter Scrope
Cllr Cunliffe-Lister said she hoped to arrange a follow-up meeting in March to discuss progress.
Afterwards, she told the Stray Ferret she would like to see the re-introduction of a government voucher scheme that enabled people to install their own gigabit-capable connections at reduced cost. She added:
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