Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed has continued to lobby Openreach regarding the delivery schedule for their commercial fibre broadband programme.
Following months of work, the MP has received assurances from the company that the provision of broadband remains their primary focus and that they are on target to roll out around Alnwick and Berwick, with 14,053 premises on target to have fibre services by the end of the year.
To date, Openreach have delivered fibre to 12,611 of the planned premises and are on their way to meeting their commitment to the remaining 1,442 premises. There are six cabinets waiting to be upgraded and Openreach are committed to seeing these delivered by December 2017.[1]
Anne-Marie Trevelyan said “It is very promising to see progress being made on the commercial fibre programme following years of hard work and intensive lobbying that we have undertaken as a community. Openreach have told me they are on target to deliver their commitments to Alnwick and Berwick by December 2017 and I will be working hard to ensure this target is met.”
Anne-Marie further commented “Openreach are also making progress on bringing fibre to 25,673 properties in the constituency by the close of their current BDUK contract in December 2018, with 24,385 already covered. This is good news for people in our patch who need and rely on this crucial service. We are working tirelessly to ensure that rural areas receive the same treatment as other parts of the country and this will go some way to support our precious rural communities. I will be continuing to lobby hard for improvements and I urge anyone who is not seeing the benefits promised, to contact me immediately and I will raise the matter with Openreach”.
The Locations of the six Cabinets waiting to be upgraded are as follows;
Alnwick 6 – junction of Clayport St and Lagny St – covers area to NE and SE of the cabinet – NE66 1LA
Alnwick 7 – junction of St James Estate and Weavers Way – covers area to N and W of the cabinet – NE66 1BG
Alnwick 2 – junction of Bondgate Without and Prudhoe St – covers area to S and W of the cabinet – NE66 1PY
Alnwick 12 – junction of Clayport Bank and St Thomas Crescent– covers area to N and W of the cabinet – NE66 1EF
Berwick 4 – Hide hill, opp Kings Arms Hotel – covers area to E, W and S of the cabinet – TD15 1AB
Berwick 14 – junction of Northumberland Rd and Springhill Lane – covers area to N and S of the cabinet – TD15 2QN