ORP - Broadband, Fibre, OpenReach, FTTP, Full Fibre to the Premises.

After over 2 years of work the committee can now provide a fuller update on the proposed broadband upgrade to Rowley Park.

After consulting with residents there was only marginal support to move forward with the project.

Following Openreach’s final estimate of approximately £140,000 to conduct the upgrade works, it was agreed the project and investment required was not viable at this time.

The decision was made after exploring various funding avenues and government voucher schemes. As the current average broadband speeds around the park are in far excess of the UK average the project would not currently be eligible for government or voucher funding.

The decision not to proceed with the project was also taken due to the recent availability or alternate technologies such as EE’s 5G service and Starlink’s Satellite Broadband service. Both of these services provide an option for individual households to access far higher speeds than currently provided by local broadband suppliers and consequently those who require higher speeds do have an alternate option.

In addition to this following Openreach’s announcement that they would continue to invest in their £15 billion program to reach 25 million premises in the UK it was felt that it was only going to be a matter of time before the Park would be upgraded for ‘free’ as part of Openreach’s planned rollout.

This would therefore not require the £140,000 investment of Owners funds.

We realise this may not be the conclusion some residents hoped for however we hope you understand our balanced decision.

Many thanks.

Rowley Park Owners Association