The Government has been asked to sack the board of the organisation tasked with delivering superfast broadband speeds of 24+ Mbps to residents in the rural communities around Wellington.

The plea to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden came from the Blackdown Hills Parish Network (BHPN), which represents 39 parishes in the area of outstanding natural beauty.

Chairman Heather Stallard asked in an open letter copied to Taunton Deane’s MP Rebecca Pow and other Somerset and Devon MPs why rural communities were locked down without adequate internet provision.

Ms Stallard, a former Hemyock Parish Council chairman, said many residents still had broadband delivered via old BT telephone exchanges over copper wire.

She said Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) had failed three times since 2012 to deliver phase two superfast rural broadband for which it had been given £27 million of public money.

CDS was now on its fourth procurement exercise for the second phase, meaning some rural residents would be waiting until 2025 for better broadband – 13 years since public money was allocated.

Ms Stallard said CDS was the first and the largest such programme set up in England, but it would be the last to successfully complete all phase two contracts, when other similar programmes were already on their phase four roll-out.

She said: “Residents of rural Devon and Somerset have been struck a double blow – a further delay of up to five years for fast broadband, and the immediate problem of poor internet connectivity to communicate efficiently during the current pandemic.

“Those activities that are facilitated by high speed broadband such as working from home, completing interactive education assignments, accessing online shopping, banking, entertainment and online GP consultations, become essential needs for rural communities in particular.

“The need for regular interactive video and voice contact with relatives, friends and colleagues becomes essential to combat rural isolation.

“Every single one of these activities is rendered tremendously difficult with single digit broadband speeds of a few Mbps.”

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.