EASTOFT BROADBAND EXTENSION
MEETING held at Eastoft Village hall 6th March
Many thanks to all those who turned out for an extremely interactive & encouraging meeting last night at the village hall.
Also a big thanks to Cllr Reed for attending & her responses to the many questions posed.
It was disappointing that no member of the Parish Council attended other than Sandra Taylor who is on the EBE committee. With such an important topic one might have thought there would have been an interest shown from one or two who sit on the Parish council, alas this was not to be the case. This will be brought to the attention of the Parish Council, as an agenda point on Monday 12th March meeting.
The meeting was held on behalf of the village to ascertain what the residents views were on the Superfast Broadband options, & what actions the committee could take forward on their behalf.
After many questions wereanswered, mostly around funding, those attending seemed very clear in their conclusions that they would prefer FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) rather than the FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) option, which would leave in excess of 18 residents without some or any improvement in their broadband speed & reliability.
The vote was quite unanimous, with 18 out of 20 attending voting for FTTP. We also know of other residents who have shown interest who could not come for personal reasons.
However, this then begs the question of how to raise the funds for such a project, with a figure in excess of £50,000 needing to be raised.
Cllr Reed expressed the avenues she had already explored, though to date without any positive outcomes. However it was suggested from the floor that we should be able to go back to SSE, & ask the panel who preside over the projects, to consider the bid again, & that we should be able to ask for £30k. Though previously we have been told, this would only be for FTTC. A suitable case is to be presented at the next round of meetings in late April. There is also an additional SSE fund for North Lincs of £170k per annum, which has not supported the Isle much over the past few years, so that is another possible source. There was talk about turning the Hall into an Internet Café, where there may be an option to apply to Awards for All. Also another couple of wind farms adjacent to the area can be contacted.
One of the funding options is to support Lincs Lotto, for every £1 spent, 50p would be donated to the cause. (www.lincslotto.co.uk) Of course there is also the chance of winning a nice monetary prize each week. As we have already registered for Lincslotto just go to their web site & search for Eastoft Broadband. Plus if any residents have any fund raising ideas please let us know, as the more active we are, the more favourable the project will be received.
Those attending last night completed a short questionnaire, asking about their current broadband experience & speed. This questionnaire will be placed online & anyone wishing to add their information will be appreciated. If you let us know your e mail address too we will add you to the directory for future communications.
COMMITTEE Vacancies – we have a committee of 4 persons currently, with one having to stand down owing to personal reasons. This gives us 2 posts vacant for anyone who wishes to offer their time & energy to the project. The committee meet generally on a monthly basis or as & when required. Also meeting with Cllrs & North Lincs from time to time, so it isn’t a great commitment of time, but it would be beneficial to have a full committee to share the tasks that lay ahead.
A final thank you again to all those who voiced their opinions last night, of which there were many, & so encouraging & positive were the outcomes.
EBE Committee
