You may be wondering why you haven’t heard more about where we are at with the fibre broadband project. We’ve finally got to the bottom of the delay in response to the plans submitted on 19 February!
We’ve learnt that the section of the government department that deals with these projects (BDUK) has incurred a self-inflicted hiccup in approving plans we submitted by the deadline they set. What they have done is locked out (in other words put on hold information) for all Cumbrian postcodes while they introduce a new procurement process for future fibre broadband projects.
We have got our MP, Neil Hudson, and Cumbria County Council involved in tackling this hiccup. They are asking to meet with the Minister of DCMS before the end of May and sort this delay out – by facilitating the approval of existing submitted projects such as ours before the end of June.
On our side, we know that the work that has already been completed by B4RN and the community volunteers shows that we have a viable project. We have the landowner support for the wayleaves required and very positive community support through the voucher registration process.
Assuming we get the approval before the end of June we expect to be able to provide by August outline timescales for delivering the various phases of the project.
We will let you know as soon as possible when we have more information. In the meantime, there is still time to register a voucher if you haven’t already done so or spread the word if you know someone who hasn’t but is interested.
We know how frustrating this will be for everyone but this is to assure you the project is still very alive and kicking and that we will get there.
Sue Quinn and Brian Smythe
