Social media coordinator Laura Wallace, campaigner Andrea Wood and parish council chairman Tony Lear (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER )
In a win for our ongoing campaign to deliver better connectivity to people living in rural areas, the small community of Northleigh near Honiton has finally been given full-fibre broadband.
Locals have endured almost a decade of delays and were repeatedly let down by the Government after being quoted an eye-watering ￡115,000 to get full fibre installed.
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Airbnb host and campaigner Andrea Wood, 64, said: “It has been absolutely fantastic. It is just incredible.
“I cannot believe it has taken so long. It just seems surreal that we have this now. It does not seem real.”
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Don't miss... ‘We were quoted ￡115,000 for broadband — our nine-year battle to get connected' [INSIGHT]
The village of Northleigh near Honiton in Devon (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER )
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She credited the “village pulling together” for the campaign, thanking parish council chairman Tony Lear, 84, and social media coordinator Laura Wallace, 59, for the roles they played.
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MP Richard Foord had been “really supportive” throughout the process, she said.
And she said the village “could not have done it without” the Daily Express highlighting the issue – and giving Openreach one final push to get the service delivered.
She said: “I honestly do not think it would have happened without your coverage and Richard’s help.”
After years of battling with Connecting Devon and Somerset – run jointly by Devon County
Council and Somerset Council – and the Government’s “Project Gigabit” programme, they were promised full fibre rollout by the end of last year.
Yet this work once again faced further delays. By the middle of March, it was still not yet complete.
Mr Foord said the news the work is finally done was a “big win” for rural Devon and showed what can happen “when local people work with an MP who champions them.”
Express journalist Sam Stevenson speaks to MP Richard Foord (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER )
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He said: “Northleigh has endured years of unacceptable delays and neglect from both the Government and Openreach.
“It should not take almost 10 years to get broadband installed for cut off communities.
“The news that the rollout has finally been completed is a big win for rural Devon and a huge testament to the persistence of residents, who refused to roll over in their campaigning.
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“But despite this hard-fought win, there is still so much more to do. Many small villages remain cut off and left behind across rural Devon – that’s why I’ll continue to fight to ensure everyone can get a proper broadband connection, no matter where they live.
“The success in Northleigh shows what can happen when local people have an MP who champions them and makes their voices heard in the corridors of power.
“This is what I’ve sought to do every day since I was elected and will continue doing just that for people across Mid- and East Devon.”
The small community of Northleigh near Honiton has finally been given full-fibre broadband (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER)
It's time for ministers to put their money where their mouth is on 'levelling up', says Richard Foord MP
Northleigh village (Image: JONATHAN BUCKMASTER )
We’ve heard a lot of talk from Government about levelling up.
However, for some of our most rural communities, this simply has not materialised in relation to broadband.
Access to the internet is essential to our daily lives.
As an MP representing a very rural area of Devon, I understand how tiresome it can be to not be able to get decent broadband.
In villages across our countryside you’re lucky if you have one provider that is able to get you online.
For communities like Northleigh, a village of 120 homes, it was even worse.
They have been waiting since 2015 to see fibre broadband rolled out.
Part of this work began in 2019, but after just a quarter of the village was connected, everything ground to a halt.
There was a two-tier provision where part of the community could get online, but the rest could not.
When I was elected to Parliament in the summer of 2022, this was one of the first issues I sought to raise with those in positions of power.
For the past 18 months, I’ve been pushing for ministers to step up their game and get this problem sorted.
The village did secure funding through Project Gigabit, the Government’s scheme to help improve broadband connectivity for disconnected communities.
Yet it took almost two years for any sign of this funding delivering action on the ground.
In March, parish councillors and I met with a team from the Daily Express, to show them just how bad things were.
A local surgeon who lived in the village told me how he was unable to do his job properly because he could not download scans ahead of important operations.
In the wake of this visit, the Secretary of State professed her support for getting the village online, promising that the work would be done soon.
OpenReach was finally given the poke it needed, and the whole village was plugged in last week.
This is a big win for Northleigh.
However, it should not have to take almost a decade of fighting, and the intervention of an MP and a national newspaper, to force the Government to follow through on their promises.
Sadly, Northleigh is not an isolated case.
Ministers love to talk the talk, but now it’s time for them to also walk the walk and level up connectivity in countryside communities.