A year and a half has now passed since the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron (Lib Dem), highlighted the connectivity limbo (here) that several villages in Cumbria – including Ormside, Warcop, Hilton, and Murton – had been left in by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme. But locals have just been asked to wait a little bit longer.
Just to recap. Some or all of the aforementioned communities were originally in the process of being lined up to receive gigabit broadband (FTTP) via B4RN as part of the Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS). But before that could proceed, BDUK unexpectedly placed the area into the scope of Project Gigabit’s regional supplier contract, which had previously been won by Fibrus the year before, in 2022 (here).
The situation would have been fine if it actually meant those communities being upgraded in a timely fashion, but it’s not quite so simple. The regional supplier contract includes two categories of intervention: Initial Scope, where the regional supplier should build as quickly as possible; and Deferred Scope, where BDUK wait and see whether commercial plans or voucher projects translate to delivery, but could then build if not.
Sadly, the aforementioned communities are all stuck in a Deferred Scope, which means they’re still waiting to hear whether or not Fibrus will be able to reach them. “For premises that are included in the Deferred Scope of contract, we will seek a price from the regional supplier, but will not authorise build unless and until they are re-classified as White. We will always either descope Under Review premises or defer build to them and we will always descope Grey or Black premises,” states BDUK’s policy documents.
Back in June 2023 the then Chancellor of the UK government, Jeremy Hunt, promised to “happily look into what has happened … We strongly support all rural areas having access to gigabyte broadband, as an important part of our policy. We have made a lot of progress on that. I will look into detail of what is happening in the hon. Gentleman’s area and get back to him.” But little has changed, which on Monday prompted another intervention by Tim Farron.
Tim Farron told parliament (here):
“Perhaps of greater concern are the places that are in scope, but in deferred scope. I want to name four parishes in my constituency, near Appleby: Hilton, Murton, Warcop and Ormside. Those are communities on very low speeds at the moment. Some people are forced, against their better judgment and almost against their will, to give money to Elon Musk to use Starlink instead of the very limited broadband opportunities that are available to them.
While those communities are within scope but in deferred scope, they wait for the contract holder, Fibrus, to give them a date, and because they are within deferred scope, nothing is happening on the ground to connect them. Also, they do not have access to the voucher scheme, which would allow them to work with our absolutely brilliant Cumbrian Broadband for the Rural North, otherwise known as B4RN, an award-winning community interest company that has connected so many homes throughout rural Cumbria to gigabit and greater broadband speeds.
So I want to press the Minister—this is my one ask of him—on whether he will ensure that those parishes I have listed, Ormside, Warcop, Hilton and Murton, are either given a date for connection under Project Gigabit, or are descoped so that vouchers can be made available and B4RN can then step in and fill the gap. We had a public meeting in the snow in Murton last December—next weekend it will be 12 months ago—where BDUK made all sorts of promises of which it has fulfilled absolutely none.
Will the Minister give personal attention to either descoping those communities so they can get broadband through the B4RN and the voucher system, or give Fibrus—and more importantly BDUK—a kick up the backside to make sure they bring the communities into scope, and give a date in the next few months so that those communities, which are very remote in many other ways, are connected properly to gigabit broadband speed?”
In response, the government’s new Telecoms Minister, Chris Bryant, told Tim, “I do not want to descope at this point, because I very much hope that we will get to a resolution in the next month, but he makes a strong point. If it proves necessary to abandon ship, as it were, he can come back at me on that.”
The response appears to indicate that some or all of the aforementioned villages might soon be included into Fibrus’ main deployment, but we won’t find out until around the turn of the year. Even if the deployment does end up being confirmed, then it remains unclear how long locals may have to wait before the new service actually arrives.
We should point out that there are plenty of other communities across the UK that have found themselves being placed into a similar position over the past couple of years.