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MP Alex Cunningham calls for superfast broadband in Hardwick

11/16/2013

5 Comments

 
Picture
Originally posted by Alex Cunningham MP website Nov 15 2013
Frustrated that no-one will take the necessary action to install superfast broadband for his constituents in the centre of a major new housing development, Alex Cunningham, Labour Member of Parliament for Stockton North, decided on direct action in the hope of shaming the developer and service provider into action.

Homes in Brunel Walk in Hardwick developed by Keepmoat do not currently have access to superfast broadband internet, as the necessary cables were not laid as part of the construction process.  To the frustration of residents in Brunel Walk, however, superfast broadband is available to houses in each of the surrounding streets in the area, and the cables connecting neighbouring houses lie just feet from their homes.


After months of being shifted from developer to service provider, from service provider to local council and back around, Alex was told they needed to measure the distance involved to determine the cost.  Nothing has happened so Alex joined resident, Chris Andrew, and measured the distance themselves.
They found that around 100 metres of cable is needed and the nearest property is just one metre from a service point.

Alex said:  “This is a very frustrating situation for residents in Brunel Walk who, through no fault of their own, are unable to access a service which is increasingly vital for everyday living in the modern world.  I would like to see Keepmoat, Virgin Media and Stockton Council get together to rectify this bizarre situation – especially as cable boxes are located so close by.”

Keepmoat Homes, who are currently responsible for Brunel Walk, have insisted that Virgin Media should bear the costs for fully relaying the footpaths which would have to be dug up in order for Virgin’s cables to be laid.  This is intended to satisfy an agreement with Stockton Borough Council, under Section 38 of the 1980 Highways Act, that the Council will not adopt land from a private developer until work is completed to a necessary standard, which includes the reinstatement of whole footpaths, as opposed to the refilling of trenches only.  However, Virgin Media have declined to commit to full reinstatement of footpaths on cost grounds, leaving residents of Brunel Walk without access to broadband.

Resident Chris Andrew, who lives in Brunel Walk with his wife and young son, said:   “It is ridiculous that we cannot access superfast broadband internet services in a newly built estate like this.  The irony is that we still receive general mail outs from Virgin Media boasting that Virgin broadband is in our area.”

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5 Comments
Mark Stewart
1/13/2014 08:20:08 pm

I recently have moved to the Mandale keepmoat development in Thornaby, i too questioned why they are building these new houses and dont offer high speed internet as standard. Apparently prior to demolition the old houses had virgin media installed however during the process these cable trenches were destroyed and keepmoat weren't willing to pay VM to relay the cables.
In addition to this most of the surrounding areas have access to 100mb broadband but we cant, I can see the green vm box less than 50 meters from my house. BT also confirmed that they wont be upgrading the NES Stockton exchange as its not commercially viable so the council themselves have to do something about it. So for the next 2-3 years were all going to be stuck on 2mb broadband!!

The whole process is highly frustrating!!!!

Reply
stu link
1/14/2014 03:26:03 am

I can definitely sympathise .
I live in a council house about 100 yards from Brunel Walk (mentioned in the article ) and we have the fast Virgin broadband . It doesnt make sense that they bulldoze the old council houses for "progress and modernisation" yet destroy inbuilt infrastructure and then wont rebuild the cabling . Typical !

Reply
stu link
1/28/2014 11:15:41 pm

Great news as posted by Alex Cunningham on twitter/FB 29 Jan 2014 and I quote :
"Great news for residents in Brunel Walk, Hardwick getting broadband after my 18 month campaign - thanks for Stockton Council intervention"

Reply
stu link
2/1/2014 04:04:25 am

http://www.alexcunninghammp.com/2014/01/alexs-efforts-secure-superfast-broadband-hardwick-pay/
"Residents in Brunel Walk in the centre of a major redevelopment area can at last get broadband after a welcome intervention from Stockton Borough Council’s Chief Executive, Neil Schneider.

Despite living in brand new houses, the residents were unable to get the service because no-one installed the infrastructure to reach their homes at the time the houses were constructed. They then found themselves stuck between the developer, Virgin Media and the Council. Now, after sustained pressure from Stockton North’s Member of Parliament, a decision has been taken to ensure the residents can have the superfast broadband they want.

Under Section 38 of the 1980 Highways Act, Stockton Borough Council adopts land from private developers only once all work has been completed to the necessary standard. This includes the full reinstatement of footpaths. Reluctance by the developer and service provider to commit to reinstating the completed footpath in Brunel Walk after inserting the pipe work resulted in a prolonged stalemate.

Keepmoat Homes, the developer responsible for Brunel Walk, insisted that Virgin Media should bear the cost of these works following the laying of the necessary cables. Virgin Media, however, declined to commit on grounds of cost, leaving residents of Brunel Walk without access to superfast broadband. Now the Council has confirmed that they are willing to make an exception to their policy and will adopt the footway on Brunel Walk with a trench in order to break the deadlock and alleviate the issue for residents.

Alex said:

“After speaking to each of the parties involved in this ridiculous scenario, I was delighted to hear confirmation from Neil Schneider, Chief Executive of Stockton Borough Council that they are willing to commit to bringing this sorry saga to an end by making an exception to their policy for adopting footways from private developers.

“I will continue to press both KeepMoat and Virgin to ensure that they match the commitment from the Council to remedy the situation and to allow superfast broadband services to be provided to residents on Brunel Walk as soon as possible.

“Whilst I acknowledge the difficulties in making provisions to deliver broadband services through the planning process, as councils cannot apply conditions which would effectively apply to organisations that provide these services, I was pleased to hear that Stockton Borough Council is drafting a telecommunications infrastructure policy that will ensure that everything possible is done at the planning application stage to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again and developers do the right thing.”"

Reply
Carly
8/11/2014 03:31:42 am

What about the new build Barratt properties? I have to suffer 1-2MB speed broadband living on Babbage Gardens in Hardwick, being a new build house completed two years ago. I sometimes get better internet speed using 3G on my phone! I never thought to ask about the internet speed when intially moving, as you would tend to presume that when improving an area by building new properties you would make such a now common service readily avaliable, apparently not..

Reply



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