The rural West Midlands Herefordshire Council has touted a new 16 year development plan ('Shaping Our Place 2026') that puts next generation fibre optic broadband deployment right at the top of its priority list.

Presently many parts of the county only have limited availability of high-speed broadband and BT believes that the area is not economically viable for the proposed services. Consequently the county is going it alone. Its new paper will be put out for public consultation this coming week.

Full Details of the Herefordshire Strategy:
http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/housing/planning/30579.asp

In the meantime there are still some signs of hope. At the end of last year Allpay, which operates more than 1800 payment schemes for public and private sector organisations, began connecting new subscribers to its special Kingstone parish trial of wireless broadband ISP services.

The service was deployed using an antenna on St Michael and All Angels next door, allowing approximately 100 Kingstone locals to get connected; several other parishes are also involved. The Allpay plan uses church steeples as relay stations for a bespoke subscriber-based service specific to Herefordshire.


Herefordshire Council is now committed to exploring new pilot areas, testing the potential for a wider Community Broadband Network (CBN). This is effectively where the new paper and consultation comes in. Indeed the UK government is also keeping a close eye on efforts in the county, which could be used in other parts of the country under the Digital Britain initiative.