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