Support fast broadband in South Darley

The technology used is known as Fibre To The Premise (FTTP), where a fibre cable is connected directly to your home to deliver reliable download speeds of up to 1GB/s (Over 100x faster than the slowest property in our area can receive). Note that this is different to, and faster than, the ‘FTTC’ system where fibre broadband is delivered to a nearby cabinet and then carried to your house via a normal phone cable.

Our area suffers from some of the slowest UK broadband speeds and will not gain access to FTTP until the end of the decade, but the Rural Gigabyte Voucher Scheme (https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/) can make it happen sooner. It gives every household in our ward a £1,500 voucher (or a £3,500 business voucher) which can be pledged towards our community fibre partnership. If we achieve £145,000 of pledges, Openreach will install FTTP to the 300+ properties in our area. At the time of writing we have hit achieved £85,000 of this target, with 37 vouchers pledged. 

As people’s working habits change in a Post COVID-19 world, communities with ultrafast broadband speeds will be honeypot sights for investment and people looking to move to the area. That can only have a positive effect on hose values. This is alongside the increasing number of gadgets we all have in our homes that rely on a strong, fast and reliable internet connection.

Nothing to pay

All you need to do is pledge the voucher that you are entitled to. We just need to reach the target of £145,000.

To pledge a voucher, residents and councillors will need to complete the following steps: 

1. Go to Openreach.com/connectmycommunity 
2. Enter your postcode 
3. Read the Pledge Terms and Privacy Policy
4. Pledge your voucher!

We have a fantastic opportunity here to deliver a real difference to our community and get faster broadband in the process!