The rural village of Upper Mayfield is set to receive full fibre optic broadband after local residents joined forces with their Member of Parliament, Kate Griffiths, to secure and pool sufficient vouchers from the Government’s Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.
The Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is designed to help the rollout of superfast broadband in rural areas where installation costs are higher, and it is not commercially viable for companies like Openreach to upgrade broadband cabinets from copper wire to fibre optic cables.
Through the Voucher Scheme, each eligible property in these hard-to-reach areas can secure a Gigabit Voucher worth £1,500 for a residential property and £3,500 for a business premises. Taken together, these vouchers cover the additional costs to help pay for broadband upgrades within these rural areas.
Kate Griffiths supported Upper Mayfield residents, including James Saunby and Martin Balderson, in working with local organisation Superfast Staffordshire to find ways to improve the broadband speed in the village.
Once the Gigabit Scheme was identified, residents got to work urging the local community to apply for their Rural Gigabit Vouchers, and Ms Griffiths wrote to every eligible household with key information about the opportunity—as well as in the parish magazine.
Since then, the threshold required to cover the cost of the work has been met, and Openreach engineers have been out in Upper Mayfield surveying the area ahead of the full fibre optic installation, which is due for completion close to the end of March 2022.
Commenting, Kate Griffiths, MP for Burton & Uttoxeter, said:
“The internet is an essential utility on which our lives rely more and more with each passing day.
“Over the last 18 months, this reliance has been demonstrated by the need for working from home, home schooling, online shopping for groceries, booking vaccinations, and video calling with friends and family.
“That is why it is so important that every home has access to fast broadband speeds, and I am delighted that Upper Mayfield will also benefit from fibre optic technology—helping to future-proof this new infrastructure for its homes and businesses alike.
“Well done to James and the residents who claimed a voucher. Their collective efforts mean that everyone in Upper Mayfield will be able to benefit from a faster broadband service.”
Upper Mayfield resident, James Saunby, added:
“Having an unreliable or poor internet connection is incredibly frustrating.
“This has been an issue for some years, and so I am grateful to Kate and to the activists in the village, particularly Martin Balderson, who were able to move things forward and ensure that—as a community—we got over the line when it came to securing the required number of Rural Gigabit Vouchers.
“Like many, I rely on good broadband, and so I am delighted that full fibre optic broadband is on its way to Upper Mayfield!”
