Fibre GarDen Details Superfast Broadband Plan for Garsdale and Dentdale

The Fibre GarDen project, which aims to create a new fibre optic superfast broadband (30Mbps+) network to connect 100% of premises in the project footprint of Garsdale and Dentdale (Cumbria, England) by 2014, has recently published its State Aid Notice (public consultation) that reveals more detail about their plan.

At present the two “isolated and sparsely populated upland rural communities“, which are home to around 887 people living in 525 properties (there are also 159 businesses in the area), have no access to superfast (Next Generation Access) connectivity and no such services are planned for the foreseeable future.

But last September 2012 the UK governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) awarded £157,500 from its £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF) to help improve connectivity with a new 100Mbps capable fibre optic link (here), which will be operated by the Fibre GarDen CIC community interest company. On top of that the new document reveals that locals have pledged nearly £225,000 of their own money to support the development.

The new consultation, which is open until the end of January 2013, also reveals that an Invitation to Tender (ITT) has been drafted and is currently being verified by DEFRA and the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office before being published. Fibre GarDen hopes to be in a position to evaluate any bidder responses by mid-March 2013, although no timescale has been set for the project development itself as this is still “subject to funding“. Credits to Recombu for spotting this news.

Fibre GarDen’s State Aid Public Consultation
http://fibre-garden.co.uk/doc/Fibre_Garden_State_Aid_Public_Consultation.pdf