Green Party District Councillor Steve Hynd has today written an open letter to Gareth Williams, the CEO of Gigaclear, to express his “utter dismay” that the rural communities he represents are still not connected to a superfast broadband service that was promised to them over a year ago.
Cllr Hynd represents the ward of The Stanleys, which covers Frocester, Stanley Downton, Leonard Stanley, King’s Stanley and Selsley. In November 2021 Cllr Hynd was reassured that the service would go live “in the coming months” and has since then been repeatedly assured that the service would go live, only for deadlines to slip and for emails to go unanswered. In October 2022 Gigaclear assured Cllr Hynd that:
“Stanley Downton and Leonard Stanley will definitely go live in December, one of them maybe November. Selsley West build is likely to be December or January.”
Despite this promise, the communities are still not connected and the latest suggestions from Gigaclear are that the service might go live in March 2023. In the letter Cllr Hynd slammed this poor performance, saying:
“Not only have you failed to deliver this in a timely manner, but you have consistently failed to effectively communicate with myself or the community despite my continued attempts to help and support you in doing so.”
Many residents have contacted Cllr Hynd expressing concerns about the viability of their businesses that have increasingly relied on home working or the frustration at not knowing whether to renew existing broadband contracts.
Cllr Hynd said: “Superfast broadband is a lifeline for many rural communities. It enables businesses to competitively thrive, for schoolwork to be completed efficiently and increasingly for friends and family to stay connected. It’s hugely disappointing then that I have spent the last year chasing Gigaclear. Despite promises coming thick and fast the actual works have progressed at a snail’s pace.”
He continued: “I wrote to the CEO of Gigaclear today not only to try and ascertain a realistic and honest assessment of when the service would go live, but also to get a sincere apology to all those affected in my community. At this stage we need both – a sincere apology combined with a realistic timeline going forward so that my residents can plan effectively”.
The letter is below:
Gareth Williams CEO
Gigaclear Ltd,
Building One,
Wyndyke Furlong,
Abingdon,
Oxon,
OX14 1UQ
13th January 2022
Dear Gareth Williams,
I wrote to you in February 2022 to express my frustration at both the crucial delays in upgrading the broadband infrastructure in my local community and the poor levels of communications from the customer services team.
I am bitterly disappointed to be writing to you today to inform you that neither have improved. Despite regular misleading promises to the contrary, the communities I represent still don’t have access to an upgraded broadband infrastructure and, realistically, can’t expect to have this in the coming months. The lack of approach from any of your sales team suggests that this view is shared within your company even if it is not communicated to me or my community.
I understand some of the logistical issues you’ve been facing but I honestly struggle to understand the continuing poor levels of communications – even after I have previously made a direct appeal to you to rectify this situation. You will remember that in my last letter I talked about how I was proactively contacted by Josh Verity, the then Community Engagement Manager for the West Region in November 2021. He was supportive and reassuring at the time saying to me:
“Stanley Downton is within the top 5 priority communities to be reissued, there are multiple reasons for this. Not least of which, Stanley Downton is a key infrastructure link for our wider network and under our commitments to Fastershire, we are obligated to build to a large number of the properties within Frocester and the surrounding area.”
As you know from my last letter, I then worked with him on a public statement to reassure residents to this affect. When work clearly failed to happen and we suffered months of ignored emails I was forced to write directly to you. In part because I had put my personal reputation on the line by communicating what your employees had assured me would happen.
I am writing today to express not just my disappointment but my utter dismay that this pattern has repeated itself in the last year.
For example, on the 28th October 2022, Arron Judd, the now Community Engagement Manager, wrote to myself to say, and I quote, “Stanley Downton and Leonard Stanley will definitely go live in December, one of them maybe November. Selsley West build is likely to be December or January.”
It is now mid-January and Stanley Downton and/or Frocester are not live, and the Selsley West build shows no sign of materialising. The latest I heard, via a colleague in Frocester Parish Council, is that we can expect Frocester and Stanley Downton to go live in March 2023.
Considering that in November 2021 Stanley Downton was one of your “top 5 priority communities to be reissued” this is embarrassingly poor service delivery. Not only have you failed to deliver this in a timely manner, but you have consistently failed to effectively communicate with myself or the community despite my continued attempts to help and support you in doing so.
As such I write today asking for:
- A realistic breakdown of the timeline for the residents of Frocester, Stanley Downton, Leonard Stanley, King’s Stanley and Selsley to have access to superfast broadband.
- An apology, not to me, but to all those who live in this community that have been holding off renewing broadband contracts, who have been relying on your services for these businesses and who are, understandably, feeling a great degree of anger.
- A review to how you work internally to improve the communication channels between your Project Manager and Community Liaison leads and that you stop, as a matter of urgency, delivering promises you are unable or unwilling to keep.
Your work is essential to rural communities like the ones I represent up and down the country. Despite all that has occurred I am still here to offer any support I can in supporting you in delivering this crucial service.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Steve Hynd