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:

“This is a matter of concern to many people and there is a great deal of doubt about what is being delivered and what the solutions are.”

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A Masham councillor is to host a public meeting to address broadband problems in rural areas of the district.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Masham and Fountains, Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, said she has worked closely with North Yorkshire Council to improve broadband around Ripon and Masham but many households and businesses still have slow connectivity.

CityFibre spent £46m in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon last year but, despite this investment, many people in rural areas cannot get a superfast broadband connection.

The final phase of delivery from North Yorkshire Council-owned NYnet is due to end imminently. This means many rural residents and businesses who are still waiting for superfast broadband connection will be left without any solutions.

The persistent issues have lead Cllr Cunliffe-Lister to arrange the public meeting.

The council’s director of transformation, Robert Ling, will discuss how the final NYnet phase will be delivered, budget constraints, and whether any other funding options may be available to those who are not going to be connected.

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Project Gigabit, a £5 billion Government scheme aiming to implement superfast broadband into “hard-to-reach” communities, will also be discussed.

The scheme is yet to come to North Yorkshire but the councillor hopes “it might provide connection to those otherwise left behind at some point.”

Cllr Cunliffe-Lister said:

“The meeting is mainly for clarification of who will be covered by phase 4 more than anything else.”

All members of the Masham and Fountains ward are welcome to attend. The meeting will take place in Masham Town Hall at 6.30pm, on Wednesday, July 19.