Thank you to everyone that has supported and signed up to the Connecting Cambridgeshire campaign so far!
In the past week, Cambridgeshire County Council changed how it calculates the registration numbers. As a result, it is now applying a hard limit of 100% to the number of registrations that can be achieved in a given street. Since some streets in Spaldwick (such as Ivy Way) had achieved well over 100% (due to a significant number of second lines), our numbers (alongside other leading villages) have taken a hit, and are lower than previously reported on this site.
Cambridgeshire County Council has announced that Spaldwick has 220 registrations (under the ‘new system’), which corresponds to about 86% of premises. While it is disappointing that a significant number of second lines registered have not now been counted, Spaldwick is second in the league table of 265 parishes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in terms of registrations as a proportion of premises. We believe that this sends a strong message to potential suppliers about the financial viability of providing superfast broadband in Spaldwick.
Recently, Spaldwick’s Broadband Champion Mark Heath attended a meeting with Cambridgeshire County Councillors and the Connecting Cambridgeshire Project Team to discuss the campaign for superfast broadband. More information on the event can be found here.
Currently, the formal procurement process is underway, with a decision expected from Cambridgeshire County Council in December 2012. We can only hope that Spaldwick, which is served by the Woolley exchange, will be included in the superfast broadband plans. Given that the BT street cabinet in Spaldwick is already equipped with an optical fibre connection from the Woolley exchange, we hope that this in combination with the high registered demand will be enough to attract a supplier, particularly if we work closely with surrounding villages.
Mark Heath continues to be in regular discussion with the Connecting Cambridgeshire project team as well as many Broadband Champions across the county. For those wanting to understand more about the various superfast broadband developments in Cambridgeshire, Mark has produced a Superfast Broadband in Cambridgeshire information page, which will be regularly updated.