Supersluggish broadband roll-out for Cheshire

As Audlem residents continue their patient wait to be connected up to 'superfast' broadband, computers in neighbouring Shropshire are set to get switched on.

The Connecting Shropshire website boasts at least 6,000 North Shropshire homes and businesses will enjoy broadband with speeds of more than 24 megabits per second (mbps) by January

Work on connecting Market Drayton to the superfast network is said be already under way as part of the £24.6 million Connecting Shropshire project.

Meanwhile villages in Cheshire East have yet to learn when their high speed broadband roll-out will begin and no official announcement of when Connecting Cheshire will get started or who will be first in line.

The latest story to be uploaded to the Connecting Cheshire website is the announcement, last June, of how Cheshire got off to a 'Superfast Start' with its own £28.5 million project.

Deputy Leader of Cheshire East, Councillor David Brown, hinted at a recent cabinet meeting that one member of the council might get "a nice Christmas present" but other than that information has been superslow to arrive.

Audlem Parish Council appears none the wiser with its October meeting being told there "has not been any further information, though rural broadband is perceived as an issue."

Audlem ward councillor Rachel Bailey has been asked to arrange a meeting with Julian Cobley of CEC & Connecting Cheshire and the parish council clerk was to write to MP Stephen O'Brien on the matter.

The Cheshire East Council website says it should be in a position to announce which villages will be included in the first stage of the roll-out by December with further announcements probably next year.

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