The petition of residents of Mount Oswald Estate in Durham,
Declares that the new development, built by David Wilson Homes, where there are residents who lack any form of acceptable broadband service; further that the estate’s phone lines are currently connected to a cabinet over 2km away, resulting in a typical broadband speed of 0-3 Mbps, well below the standard broadband speed of 17 Mbps; further that this is well below the broadband service that should be expected in a new-build development with a city-centre postcode; further that with the development of several hundred new homes immediately adjacent to the Mount Oswald Estate the broadband speeds are likely to deteriorate further without any action.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to make provision for the installation of a new fibre-enabled cabinet in the immediate vicinity of the Mount Oswald Estate to ensure a future-proof service for all current and future residents of the estate.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods , Official Report, 6 February 2018; Vol. 635, c. 1464.]
[P002109]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Matt Hancock):
The Government understand that a resolution has been reached between the developer, David Wilson Homes (DWH), and Openreach whereby broadband will be upgraded at Mount Oswald Estate. This upgrade will deliver Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) and will be completed within the next 12 months.
Furthermore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is actively working to improving new build connectivity across the country. We strengthened building regulations to introduce a requirement, from January 2017, for all new buildings and major renovations to include in-building physical infrastructure to support connections to superfast broadband. We are working with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to discuss what more can be done to ensure future-proofed connectivity is supported in their plans to reform the housing market.
In February 2016 the Government brokered a deal between Openreach and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) so that all new developments with over 250 homes would be offered superfast broadband for free, or as part of a co-funded initiative. In November 2016, Openreach announced that this would be lowered to all new developments with more than 30 homes. Currently, 99.2% of new developments with over 30 homes, and 83.2% of all new build development plots, are contracted for FTTP.
Virgin Media and GTC (another broadband infra- structure provider) subsequently also signed similar agreements with the HBF, including offering free site assessments to ensure new developments get the right connectivity in place at an early stage. This gives developers more options to ensure future-proofed connectivity at these sites and that the needs of customers are met.
To complement these agreements the Government and HBF have been working with developers to increase awareness of the benefits of digital connectivity, and the increasing expectations homeowners have for high quality broadband as standard in their homes, and we continue to engage with providers and HBF to ensure the agreements are working to deliver well-connected new developments.
There remain some developments which were built or were past planning stage before these agreements were in place. Openreach are currently looking at sites built in recent years, or are currently in progress, to explore if they can be upgraded either through Openreach investment, with a developer contribution, or through their Community Fibre Partnership Scheme.