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Nairnshire residents urged to join forces to improve broadband


By Donald Wilson

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Rural broadband..Cawdor resident Neil Cameron..Picture: Gary Anthony..
Rural broadband..Cawdor resident Neil Cameron..Picture: Gary Anthony..

A surveyor is urging communities in rural Nairnshire to join forces to improve broadband services for everyone.

Neil Cameron, who lives near Cawdor, believes there is an opportunity to improve broadband in outlying areas and the likes of Cawdor, Galcantray, Brackla and Piperhill.

“There is a UK government scheme available for homes and businesses in rural areas with broadband speeds of less than 100 megabytes per second (mbs),” he said. “Under this scheme, householders are entitled to a £1500 grant per residence and £3500 per business for small and medium enterprises.

“This is then backed up by another grant scheme provided by the Scottish Government where speeds are less than 30mbs, providing a further £5000.”

“The majority of people in Cawdor village are probably on what is described by the providers as a ‘superfast’ broadband speed of up 35mb, but you only need to be 1.2km from the Openreach cabinet for network speed to fall significantly and there are no plans for network providers to upgrade the systems on their own accord.

“There is an opportunity now for communities to get ultra-fast broadband through their own action”.

At a meeting of Cawdor and West Nairnshire Community Council, Mr Cameron suggested they should get a list of every residence and SME business that would like to upgrade and make a block application using the two grant schemes available, with a backstop that any deficit may be the subject of an eligible application to the local wind farm trust for support.

“We have a large number of of properties in rural Nairnshire trying to function in a digital age with very poor connectivity and there is an opportunity resolve that for the future and make the area even more attractive to live and work in,” he said.

“If we submitted a successful community application with wired solutions in established settlements and fixed wireless systems for remote areas it would be a tremendous boost for everyone that we are futureproofing our communities.”


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