The Campaign
The campaign to bring
high speed broadband to the communities of Upper Wharfedale and
Littondale gained momentum with the news that NYCC had given
the project the go-ahead, and that an order had been placed for the
fibre connection to Kettlewell School. Campaigners began to call
on locals to register their interest in using the service.
The initial funding for the
project came from North Yorkshire County Council’s Performance
Reward Grant (PRG) – money which the Council has received for
exceeding targets set by Government across public services - with
match funding from the local community and the internet service
provider for the scheme, LN Communications who had already enabled
several community networks in North Yorkshire and East Riding. the
mains electrification of the masts in Upper Wharfedale was funded by
a grant from the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
“We are delighted to
have the opportunity to deliver our eleventh high speed broadband
project” said County Councillor Carl Les, Chair of Connecting North
Yorkshire. “We are committed to developing community based schemes
in areas where high speed broadband is not commercially viable in
the open market – the so called ‘broadband not spots’. We are
working with our partner Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), a Government
organisation tasked with ensuring that 90% of the UK can receive
high quality broadband access by 2015 and 100% by 2017".
With this scheme we
are delighted that local residents have got together to provide
community match funding to support the CNY and LN Communications
investments."
The core of the
scheme through Threshfield, Conistone, Kilnsey, Kettlewell,
Starbotton, Buckden, Cray, Hubberholme, Yockenthwaite, Beckermonds
and Oughtershaw was initially approved, and once the threshold
of 15 signups in Littondale had been passed, the communities of Hawkswick,
Arncliffe, Litton, Halton Gill, Foxup & Cosh were given the green light.
The campaign to bring Fast Broadband to
Upper Wharfedale & Littondale has been led by
local residents David Hood and Councillor Chris Beazley, Former Chairman of
Kettlewell with Starbotton Parish Council.
“Fast broadband is
crucial for the sustainability of business and community life in
Upper Wharfedale & Littondale; to attract businesses to relocate to the area and
bring more young families here that will support the local
community, including the local schools, shops and businesses,” says
Chris. “We want businesses to be able to work here in
here without disadvantage.”
David says: “We are
asking local people to register their interest in receiving this
service, which would bring a fast broadband service direct by
wireless link of either 10, 20 or 30 Mb/s depending on the level of
service chosen by the individual household."
It was the original target that the service would be available,
with first subscribers on-line, during Quarter 2 of 2012. In fact,
due to some significant engineering challenges, first subscribers
were connected in early September 2012, and the service roll out
began in earnest.
To
register your interest
click here. Please note that even if you responded to
previous
emails, we still need you to register your
interest formally.
If
you want to know more about the service, including
prices, please click
here
Update (2nd Sept)
click here
Update
- 1st July:
click here
Update - 23rd June:
click
here