Rushcliffe MP Ruth Edwards has welcomed the Government’s announcement that it is bringing gigabit broadband connections to rural villages in Rushcliffe after they were included in the latest rollout of Project Gigabit last week.
This follows a hard-fought campaign from the MP and local councillors.
Lack of rural broadband is one of the biggest issues faced by people living in the countryside, especially as our everyday lives move online and remote working becomes more common.
Since 2019, Ruth has raised better broadband on behalf of residents on many occasions. She has also campaigned to improve broadband provision in ‘not spot’ areas, where service has been poor. She has met with broadband providers, Building Digital UK (BDUK) – which is delivering the Government’s Project Gigabit programme and Government ministers, to push for improvements across our area, which has led to large areas of Rushcliffe being announced as part of the latest rollout of Project Gigabit.
Project Gigabit is the Government’s programme to get gigabit capable broadband to areas where commercial providers won’t install it due to high costs. It has taken coverage across the country from 6% to 80% since 2019. Although Rushcliffe already has 83% coverage, some rural parts of the constituency are still without adequate internet connection.
An example of one of these ‘not spots’ in Rushcliffe, where residents struggle to get decent broadband speeds is in Sutton Bonington.
After surveying the worst affected streets with local councillor Matt Barney, it became clear that speed and reliability needed to improve.
The average download speed in Sutton Bonington was reported as 17mbps, with an average upload speed of 3mbps. This was compared to the UK average of 47mbps for downloads and 10mbps for uploads. Sutton Bonington is one of the villages that will be getting new broadband installed along with:
• Radcliffe-on-Trent
• Tithby
• Cropwell Bishop
• Cropwell Butler
• Kinoulton
• Widmerpool
• Bunny
• Gotham
• Barton-in-Fabis
• Colston Bassett
• Upper Broughton
• Barnstone
• Langar
Ruth said, “It is fantastic to see that our hard work in collecting the data and meeting with ministers has paid off, and we now be able to deliver faster internet to rural communities over the coming years.
“I know how essential good internet access is for work and leisure, so I will continue to push for other ‘not spots’ to have broadband solutions and to speed up some of the rollout dates in the current plans. If you can’t get a decent connection speed, please write to me and I will add you to our database.”
Cllr Matt Barney said:
“Slow and unstable broadband has frustrated local residents for far too long. I’m so grateful to Ruth for taking up this cause and for her ongoing and persistent lobbying that has now secured this positive outcome. Thanks also to residents for your support and for taking part in the survey, the data from which proved essential.”
Ruth can be contacted by email at ruth.edwards.mp@parliament.uk
