THE collapse of a project to deliver a superfast broadband full-fibre network for rural communities around Wellington has been described by one of the town’s two county councillors John Thorne as ‘totally predictable’.

Cllr Thorne, who is also a town councillor, had been an outspoken critic of the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS)/Gigaclear project over the past two years.

He highlighted Gigaclear’s failings and missed targets long before the company told CDS last autumn it was unable to deliver on what it had been contracted to do.

The firm was originally contracted to connect 20,000 homes and businesses across Somerset and 21,000 in Devon to a broadband network offering speeds up to 1Gbps, by December this year.

CDS then secured extra funds to cover a further 2,000 premises in Somerset and 4,000 in Devon by December of next year.

However, in November of last year Gigaclear admitted it could not meet the timescales, at which point CDS asked the company to draw up a new delivery plan to be considered.

It is this new plan which has now been rejected by CDS, which says it intends to start a fresh procurement exercise this autumn to find an alternative superfast broadband provider.

But Cllr Thorne told the WWN: “It is not just a new service provider we should be looking for, I believe we should be starting again with a whole new CDS board. I called last year for the board to be sacked over this scandal but nobody listened to me at the time.

“We have lost almost a whole year where the people I represent in rural communities on the Blackdown Hills have gone without what many recognise as an important utility service and now they may still have to wait another two to three years. Homes and businesses on the hills would not be expected to manage without electricity or running water, so we should as a council and as a country be doing more to supply better broadband and to supply it more quickly.

“CDS has badly let down communities right across Somerset and Devon with its mishandling of this multi-million pound project.

“Although it is Gigaclear has breached its contract with CDS, it is just a private business looking to turn a profit from its work, so I do not blame it too much.

“I think most people faced with being let down by a supplier of something they were buying would have gone out and found another supplier instead.

“But CDS did not do that, it stuck with Gigaclear for far too long while trying to make out to the public that it would ‘all be all right on the night’.

“Part of the issue is that CDS lost sight of the fact it was supposed to be serving the public, and part of the reason for that is that it has been allowed to get away with operating in Soviet-style secrecy where it seemed only those in the know knew anything.

“Working in that kind of bubble has allowed it to become detached from the council taxpayers it has been letting down.

“That is why I believe councillors on the board of CDS should be held accountable, should be removed and replaced, and if we are starting again it should be with a new CDS, new faces, and more openness and transparency.”

CDS board member and Somerset county councillor David Hall said in a press release announcing the cancellation of the Gigaclear contract: “Despite painstaking work by all concerned, it has not been possible to agree a recovery plan that CDS and the Government’s Building Digital UK agency (BDUK) could support with confidence.

“CDS is working closely with BDUK on a new procurement process and taking all necessary steps to secure alternative full-fibre broadband providers for our residents and businesses.

“They are our top priority and we are determined to achieve the best possible outcome for them.

“We welcome the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s expressed commitment to ensuring that our residents will benefit from world class broadband infrastructure in line with the ambitions for nationwide full fibre coverage.

“We have already held productive meetings with a number of companies interested in building full fibre networks in Devon and Somerset.

“CDS will also be expanding its Community Challenge Fund later this year, following successful pilots in Devon and Somerset.

“We are advancing a new collaboration with BT to extend coverage in rural areas, good progress is being made through our contract with Airband to provide 21,000 premises with superfast broadband.

“We are also now offering broadband vouchers to residents and businesses under the national BDUK Better Broadband scheme and the Rural Gigabit scheme.”