P-05-720 Hirwaun and Penderyn Community Council Petition for the Installation of Fibre Optic Broadband – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 25.04.17

Dear Kayleigh,

Thank you for your email and I apologise to you and the committee for the delay in my reply.

I must express how disappointed I am in the response received by Julie James AM and the reasons given for the lack of Fibre Optic Broadband in the village of Penderyn.

Firstly, I note in her response that the number of signatories was 163 - This is incorrect as the number of signatories gained on this petition was actually over 350 - An overwhelming response that shows how much interest there is in having use of this facility.

I note that there is also mention that work will be undertaken to install Fibre to the property (FTTP) and this was scheduled to start this spring. I was made aware of Email correspondence between a resident and BT where an email was received from Susi Marston (Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Manager - Super Fast Cymru - BT Group. Stadium House, Cardiff) where she stated "FTTP will be installed and estimated build work will be completed by the end of April (2017) and 6-8 weeks after this before customers can place an order". 

FTTP is only going to service an extremely small proportion of the village, all of these being located in the Southern part. The petition started for the installation was completed by more than 350 people located in the Northern part of the village and this will not come as good news.

It appears from the response by Julie James AM that the only suggested way for the majority of Penderyn to benefit from Fibre Optic Broadband is to look at the Access Broadband Cymru (ABC) Scheme. I find this very disappointing as it would appear that all neighbouring areas to Penderyn do not have the struggle in gaining Fibre Optic Broadband and have been able to take advantage of this now every day technology simply by being in the right postcode.

Since our last correspondence I have also met with Vikki Howells AM Cynon Valley on this matter due to her involvement with Hirwaun and Penderyn Community Council. I have copied her in for her information.

Kind Regards,

James