The
dawn of an exciting new era is launched today with the visit by the Secretary
of State for DEFRA, Owen Patterson MP and his announcement that Fibre Garden,
the not for profit community broadband company for Garsdale and Dentdale, are to be the first
Rural Broadband pilot in Cumbria to receive a £157,500 DEFRA grant under the
Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) scheme.
Fibre
Garden’s team of volunteer Directors, empowered by their respective Parish
Councils, has been working with DEFRA, Broadband UK (BDUK), Cumbria County
Council and Tim Farron MP for the last two years.
Securing this key funding enables the delivery of a fully inclusive,
future-proofed fibre to the home (FTTH) superfast broadband network to every
household in Garsdale and Dentdale.
This
landmark pilot scheme will offer service speeds of 40 Mbps and 100 Mbps, enabling the most
advanced business, education, media, healthcare, tourism and agricultural usage
and applications. An important element of the offering under evaluation is the
proposed delivery of an innovative backhaul internet connection, provided by Network Rail
Telecoms, via fibre
optic cable along the Settle – Carlisle railway line.
Andrew
Fleck, Chairman of Fibre Garden commented “This is the most exciting and
ambitious infrastructure project since the construction of the railways 150
years ago transformed national communications for our Dales. It means an end to
digital poverty and a lasting opportunity to revitalise our communities. The
community spirit and effort already demonstrated, and needed to complete this
project, will be a testament to community self-determination and action. It is
an example that we will be happy to share with other communities in the near
future.”
John
Colton, Technical Director of Fibre Garden commented “An investment in FTTH is
an investment in our future with almost immediate payback in terms of
connectivity, livelihoods and services.
It represents the only really future proofed solution to deliver internet
access, a utility that has become a daily feature of our lives, and will become
increasingly all important in our wired digital world.”
Fibre
Garden projects that after all procedures for final investment, wayleaves and
procurement are executed, community digging of fibres will commence in the
Spring of 2013 and a lighting up of the fibres by Christmas.
This
has been a joint endeavour as we recognized early on that combining our
resources and efforts would be beneficial to the residents and businesses of
both dales. It has the approval and support of both Parish Councils and the
company has been established with a strong volunteer management team with
combined experience in finance, marketing, fibre optic technology, education,
health provision, and farming services.
The
project is ambitious, as its aim is not simply to increase rural broadband
speeds, but to demonstrate how economic disadvantage and social exclusion can
be overcome in a rural area by the provision of future-proof Next Generation
Access (NGA) broadband. In order to achieve its goals, it will harness
community support and action alongside government investment and commercial
partnership.
A
detailed business plan, supported by extensive evidence, has been developed
which informs that a 60km network connecting the two dales and 500+ premises
will be constructed with a community organisational and digging effort and
farmers’ community spirit. This is fully costed to a high technical standard including
network installation, fibre cabling and fibre types, installation and fusion
splicing, telephony, quality of service, infrastructure services and ongoing
management thereof.
The
network that is created will:
- provide a 100% fibre optic cable to all properties and
businesses, and thus be fully future-proofed;
- be either own brand and open access ISP;
- enable initial broadband speeds of 40Mbps and 100 Mbps, with the option for
Gb/s service in the future depending upon need and growth in demand;
- be a significant economic multiplier for businesses and the
community as a whole;
- support educational opportunity and social advantage for all
as increasingly new forms of learning methods develop;
- provide extra fibre capacity for community and future P2P
use;
- be available to supply backhaul for 4G mobile phone coverage;
- provide support to farming enterprises, in areas where the
rural economy relies upon a vibrant farming sector and where the national
food supply agenda needs to be fully recognized and supported;
- be available to NHS Cumbria for informatics, telemedicine and
telehealth research trials;
- be available for use by emergency services, critical in an
upland and occasionally remote rural area;
- become a template for the creation of a fibre network, which
will be available for other rural communities to use; and
- most importantly, be fit for purpose for accommodating other
(unforeseen) technological advances that may transpire in the future
Funding
of the network will come from a variety of sources including BDUK/RDPE
contribution of £300 per premise, possible further Cumbria County Council
assistance from their Performance Related Grant (PRG), vendor finance, a
community share issue, loans and work in-kind.
For
further information contact:
Skype
Number: 01274 79 2484
Skype
Account: fibregarden
#fibregarden
