Connecting Shropshire project marks double milestone

The 100th high-speed fibre broadband roadside cabinet will this morning be switched on, taking the number of homes and businesses within reach of the new network to more than 20,000.

The new green metal cabinets are needed to connect local homes and businesses onto the new fibre optic network being rolled out across the county.

Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, will join representatives from Connecting Shropshire to unveil the roadside cabinet in St Martins, which will make the new high-speed broadband network available to nearly 300 village premises.

Owen Paterson said:

“This is great news for St Martins. Faster fibre broadband is essential to local businesses and I’m certain that it will be a catalyst for the creation of new jobs. It will also transform the lives of local families, whether they’re using the technology for working from home, entertainment or education.”

The new cabinet in Coopers Lane is the first of four serving St Martins parish that will be going live in the coming weeks as part of Connecting Shropshire, a partnership between Shropshire Council, BT and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, and the first of 10 to be upgraded in the Chirk exchange area. The Welsh part of the Chirk exchange is being fibre-enabled as part of the Superfast Cymru programme.

The Connecting Shropshire programme is being delivered by a team of more than 50 people planning, building and commissioning the network in the Shropshire Council area.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for broadband, said:

“It’s great to see so much progress and that we’ve achieved this significant milestone within a relatively short space of time. This is testament to the hard work of the Connecting Shropshire team.”

Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for Shropshire and the West Midlands, said:

“Connecting Shropshire is a huge engineering operation, but the rollout is progressing extremely well. Since the first roadside cabinet was switched on in December 2013 in Montford Bridge, our teams have continued to work hard to bring the new technology to as many communities as possible, as quickly as possible.”
Sue Schofield, chairman of St Martins Parish Council, said:

“I’ve been waiting for this news for some time and I’m really pleased that fibre broadband is now starting to become available in the village. This is especially good news for the local economy; attracting new businesses and enabling people to work flexibly from home.

“As I run Broadplace*** in the St Martins Centre, I’m looking forward to being able to upgrade to fibre broadband. Fibre optic broadband will also make the centre more attractive to organisations wanting to deliver online training courses.”

People wanting to find out if their cabinet has been enabled should use the new online map and easy-to-use line checker on the Connecting Shropshire website.