No Let Up In Campaign for Better Broadband

East Riding councillors Jane Evison and Jonathan Owen (East Wolds and Coastal) recently met with Greg Knight MP (East Yorkshire) a representative from KC and council representatives to continue to progress their campaign regarding the lack of investment in a reliable broadband service across the area.

People in the East Riding who get poor broadband access or no service at all are at a big disadvantage in many aspects of their lives. This is becoming even more evident in a world that expects 24/7 online access.

Councillor Jane Evison and Councillor Jonathan Owen said: “We believe the meeting was productive and it was particularly encouraging to have a representative from KC, a local supplier of broadband in parts of the East Riding, present to share their current plans for the roll out of fast broadband services to their existing customers and discuss the problems experienced in areas that are less well served. This is the first time a provider has shown interest in joining us and it certainly felt like a step in the right direction.”

The councillors added: “It is recognised that the service providers don’t always see the economic argument for improving broadband in a rural area, but the East Riding’s rurality and the number of small businesses in our area is one of the main reasons why broadband access is so important. It is vitally important that our MPs are kept full informed of what is happening”.

It is anticipated that, over the next 12 months, the Government will announce funding to help areas that are struggling to access fast broadband services. The councillors and the MP will be urging the government to see that the needs of East Riding residents and businesses, particularly in rural areas, are not overlooked. Furthermore, they will encourage  other suppliers providing broadband services across the East Riding to work with the council to identify local solutions.

Councillor Jonathon Owen said “It is disappointing that European law does not currently permit public services such as the council to use its own IT investment, for example in schools, to further help those communities who do not have adequate broadband services.”
.
Greg Knight MP said afterwards that the meeting was “both worthwhile and productive” and he hoped that government ministers would act soon “to ensure that communities that are geographically isolated do not remain digitally isolated too.”

Mark Conway, director of business services for KC, said: “Where KC provides broadband services in East Yorkshire we’re committed to ensuring that all of our customers can achieve download speeds of 2Mbps or faster.  This is what the Government views as the minimum speed to be achieved by 2015 across the UK, and our investment in our network over the past year means we’re on track to meet that target very soon – in fact, four years early.

“Most of our customers should already access line speeds of more than 10Mbps, and we’re keen to work with East Riding of Yorkshire Council to help them ensure residents and businesses across the region who are currently served by other providers can achieve broadband at speeds that allow them to take advantage of all the benefits that being online can bring.”

Walkington has already seen great improvements in connection speeds – Read Full Story