Project Update – March 2012

In this month’s update:

Local Broadband Plan is approved – and the money is in place
Events in your area – come along to find out more
Why we need you to complete our surveys
Become a Local Broadband Champion
Parish Councils

Local Broadband Plan is approved – and the money is in place

Faster broadband for our villages and parishes has moved a step closer with the Government approval of our Local Broadband Plan and the agreement by the Local Authorities to match-fund the £4.07m that the Government has made available for Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire, giving £8.14m in total to be spent on direct delivery of improved infrastructure.  By far the largest slice of this money, just over £8m, will be spent in Warwickshire.

We are now working towards the procurement stage of the project where we will be going out to tender and this will probably take place in the late summer of this year, with a contractor to be appointed in December.  The contractor will become a project partner and will also be expected to invest significant sums in the project, which it is why it is so important that we are able to show a high level of demand – those areas showing the greatest demand are likely to be prioritised over places where there is no demand at all.

We are not specifying any particular technologies – simply that the solution must achieve our targets of 100% coverage at a minimum of 2Mbps and 90% at superfast speeds (over 24Mbps). As a rough guide, 2Mbps will allow you to watch BBC iPlayer without the “wheel” going round or to shop on-line, whereas 24Mbps allows you to use Skype to make video calls and enables other services such as films on demand and the provision of telecare and telehealth

Events in your area – come along to find out more

We will be holding events in each of the Boroughs/Districts throughout the project. The first events to help you to find out more about how superfast broadband will be provided in your area, and how you can get involved are detailed below. More are planned in the autumn

Why we need you to complete our surveys

Our private sector partner will not be investing in our project out of the goodness of their heart – they will expect to see a return on their investment. We have prepared two surveys (one for businesses and one for residents) which ask the specific questions that providers will need to have answered in order to make informed investment decisions – these are largely around how you would use the service and where you are located. If you have not already done so, please complete the broadband surveys that are located at www.cswbroadband.org.uk. If you run a business or work from home please complete both surveys – just because a building doesn’t have a sign over the door doesn’t mean that there is no business activity going on inside.  Please encourage your neighbours to do the same, because the more people who respond from a given area, the higher priority it will receive!

We recognise that if you have very poor broadband you may not be able to complete an on-line surveys so we are getting paper copies printed and these will be available from either your local Broadband Champion or your Parish Council – please see below.

In some areas people have already been asked to complete surveys for the local council or may have written letters of support. Whilst we will be given the data from those surveys they do not capture all of the information that is essential for this project, and so we would ask that you complete the project surveys as detailed above.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 1^st FEBRUARY 2012 AT

7.30 pm IN THE COMMUNITY CENTRE, STOCKTON ROAD, LONG ITCHINGTON

Present:         David Cobley (Chairman)       Ian Briggs (Vice-Chairman)

Barbara Atkins                        Wendy Charles           Linda Clark

Frances Heales                      Richard Jackson         Adrian McNally

Click here to view full set of minutes from the meeting

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11th JANUARY 2012 AT
7.30 pm IN THE COMMUNITY CENTRE, STOCKTON ROAD, LONG ITCHINGTON

Present: David Cobley (Chairman) Ian Briggs (Vice-Chairman)
                  Barbara Atkins                   Linda Clark                   Frances Heales
                  Richard Jackson                 Adrian McNally            Russ Wheatley

Click here to read the full set of minutes from the meeting

This project has been progressing well and the site is quite transformed. Cemex had agreed a method of working with WCC that did not require any demolition other than by mechanical means. However, it has become apparent, principally for safety reasons, that the partial demolition of three remaining structures using explosive charges is necessary. Cemex have consulted with WCC and this has been agreed.

Although very minor, the use of explosive charges requires a very strict procedure and this has been the subject of notification to all the emergency services. There will be a strict exclusion zone for all site personnel but as the zone remains within the boundary, this will have no implications for any of the local communities.

The dates and times are shown below:-

Monday, January 16th 2 p.m. No. 6 Kiln Precipitator

Thursday, January 19th 2 p.m. No. 7 Kiln Precipitator

Wednesday, January 25th 2 p.m. Pre heater tower

These will be extremely minor applications of explosives and will be barely noticeable beyond the site boundary.

LONG ITCHINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 7^th DECEMBER 2011 AT

7.30 pm IN THE COMMUNITY CENTRE, STOCKTON ROAD, LONG ITCHINGTON

Present:         David Cobley (Chairman)      Ian Briggs (Vice-Chairman)

                          Barbara Atkins                       Wendy Charles           Linda Clark

                          Frances Heales                      AdrianMcNally            Russell Wheatley

Click here to read the full set of minutes from the meeting