UPDATE Blow for Wireless Broadband in Swindon UK as Masts Rejected

The state aid supported plan to bring superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services to North Swindon (Wiltshire, England) has been dealt a blow after the local planning committee rejected UKB Networks proposal to erect five new 15 metre tall masts in Taw Hill, Oakhurst, Haydon End and Redhouse.

The £1.9 million contract, which could benefit around 20,000 homes in areas that have been left neglected by commercial fixed line operators, was signed between the Swindon Borough Council, Broadband Delivery UK and UKB Networks at the start of last year (here).

But since then some politicians have warned that the solution is not good enough (here) and a few locals have complained that they are unhappy with the proposals to build new masts, with some fearing that it could devalue their homes.

Overall a total of 16 new masts were supposed to be built, although only the above 5 in North Swindon’s more urban areas have attracted real concern and indeed an earlier planning submission was withdrawn after complaints. But some locals felt as if UKB Networks still had not done enough to address the problem and, despite a recent call for three of the five sites to be approved (here), they have now been rejected.

The situation means that UKB Networks cannot proceed with its deployment in North Swindon and as such they will have to hunt around for different sites, which could just as easily suffer the same problem or potentially even reduce the effective reach of their network.

Damon Bower, Haydon Wick Parish Councillor, said (here):

“I’m absolute ecstatic. It’s the result we wanted. We thought two would get rejected but to get all five refused is a real plus. The residents came out in strength tonight to make their voices known as did the parish council. We want to protect our community and residents.”

At this point it looks as if the original hope of getting the network completely built and live by Summer 2016 is now well and truly out of the window. Meanwhile those hoping for better connectivity will be left to wait even longer while a solution is found and that’s assuming it doesn’t run into the same problem.

However UKB Networks will still continue to build the other masts that cater for areas outside of North Swindon, which should benefit 13,000 premises.

UPDATE 11th Feb 2015

The official response from UKB Networks has just been issued to us.

A UKB Networks spokesperson said:

“We are disappointed that the planning committee feels the way it does about the provision of superfast broadband in North Swindon. We are pleased that the rest of the borough is more receptive to superfast broadband and we are really encouraged by the numerous messages of support we have had over the past few days. We intend to push ahead as quickly as possible to bring superfast broadband to the 13,000 homes in the scheme outside North Swindon.

We remain committed to finding a mutually acceptable solution to providing superfast broadband in North Swindon and will be having further engagements with the ward councillors and residents in the coming days and weeks to find an amicable solution to this issue.”