An update from Richard Champness, Community Broadband Lead:
21st April 2023
I would like to thank those parishioners who have contacted me with news of emails received from Openreach since Wednesday this week. Essentially those emails are of a generic format, and consequently they do not properly convey the nature of the delay with the new system going live.
As Community Lead I was contacted today by Openreach explaining there is a delay. I have also spoken to the Engineer who has been working on the roll out in Bury since December to get an update.
Conclusion
GOOD NEWS – Essentially the Openreach Engineer, has assured me that the Ultra fast Full Fibre Broadband Build is definitely going ahead and the coverage has not changed!
Disappointing News – The same technical delays I announced on 29th March are mostly unresolved. These amount to a relatively small list, but collectively they hold up the entire project:
1. There were around six telegraph poles that needed to be replaced, so far three have been replaced.
2. There are a few holes around the Parish that need to be dug for underground ducting.
3. Some cabling work between Bury Gate and Fiitleworth is outstanding.
4. A small list of properties in Bury also require additional work, these were listed in the newsletter of 29th March.
5. A connection needs to be made in Midhurst, which is essential to the whole Parish, this is outstanding.
Unfortunately all of the above items are either waiting for manpower to be allocated, or for highway licences to enable roadworks. Once these tasks are complete, the teams who worked hard to carry out all of the cabling work to date, will return to complete the final few areas of work.
How long will this take?
The estimate I received from Openreach was somewhere between the end of April for some addresses, and the end of June for others.
I fully understand this is disappointing, however I can only reiterate, that I have been assured all the 335 premises who were in the original build plan, will benefit from the availability of Ultra Fast Full Fibre Broadband.
I will update you when I have more news!
Thank you for your patience
Richard Champness
Community Broadband Lead
