Member Article

Teesdale goes high speed with multi million pound partnership

High-speed fibre broadband is being rolled out across further parts of Teesdale with more than 2,000 households and businesses now able to connect to the new technology thanks to the Digital Durham programme.

This is in addition to around 2,500 homes and businesses in Barnard Castle already able to access the faster speeds as part of BT’s commercial roll-out of fibre.

Parts of Cockfield, Copley, Cotherstone and Staindrop are the first locations outside Barnard Castle to be reached by the superfast network, with parts of Barningham, Bowes, Gainford and Middleton-in-Teesdale due to upgraded by the end of June 2016.

In total, 3,500 homes and businesses in Teesdale are due to get access to the high-speed technology as part of the first phase of the Digital Durham programme, which also includes parts of Romaldkirk, Eggleston, Ingleton, Stainton, Barningham, Bowes, Woodland, Winston and Mickleton.

Teesdale is also set to benefit from the second phase of the Digital Durham roll-out which is currently being planned with work expected to start in 2017.

Welcoming the news, Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, said: “Broadband is an essential part of modern life – it is used for everything from homework to shopping to farming.

Reaching more people with superfast broadband is important to grow local businesses and keep people in touch. I’m delighted by the announcement and will work with Digital Durham to get even more people connected.“

Fibre broadband enables multiple users in a home or business to access the internet, download and share large files at the same time more quickly than ever before. In order to take advantage of the higher speeds now available, residents should contact their service provider.

Speaking at the Digital Durham community event in Staindrop, Simon Roberson, BT’s regional partnership director for the North East, said: “The Digital Durham project is a mammoth undertaking with over 100 planners and engineers working on upgrading the network – rolling out more than 500km of fibre-optic cable, enough to stretch over 7 times the length of the A1 in the project area.

“Teesdale’s rural landscape means rolling out fibre can be a real challenge, with some areas trickier than others, for example, smaller communities which are often based further away from the nearest telephone exchange.

“The second phase of the Digital Durham programme will see our engineers facing fresh challenges as they push the rollout of the fibre broadband network even further, to reach some of the very smallest and remotest communities, helping the rural economy to grow and improving the services and quality of life for local communities rural people have access to.”

The Digital Durham broadband programme is delivered by Durham County Council and BT. In total, £34 million has been invested by BT, Durham County Council, Gateshead Council, Government funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and public sector partners in Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and the Tees Valley.

The second phase of the programme is expected to begin in 2017 and by the end of the roll-out 97 per cent of premises within the programme area will have access to fibre broadband.

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