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Campaign Day – Lindsey’s on the case
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We need to make sure they GET IT
This week’s conversations with those who should understand what broadband contributes to the economy, to the social and digital divide solutions needed, to rural and urban areas' needs, to the value of community networks etc have left me speechless. So I’m writing this down.
I started going grey this week when I rang the Economic Development Office of a District Council in the Yorkshire Dales to ask whether the £575k being spent on 5 new business units in a very small market town included provision of broadband. “Oh no,” came the reply, “these are mainly for craft businesses.” Argh!
- · So, a craft business who presumably want year round commerce and not just in the tourist season don’t need a broadband connection?
- · So, this market town needs more craft businesses, and doesn’t, as has been highlighted in many of this Council’s own reports, need to diversify and attract high tech and IT based businesses in order to create better paid jobs ?
- · So, new build doesn’t need broadband connectivity in this day and age?
- · So, what about when these new businesses need to engage with e-government. Ho-hum.
Letter to Chief Exec of District Council was penned and is on the way to the MP too, who happens to be William Hague. Couple of hours of my time spent on that – shouldn’t be needed but it bodes poorly for the RABs when they are dealing with this level of comprehension in local Government.
Then I received a copy of a document relating to campaign grants for increasing the uptake of broadband to be made available by Yorkshire Forward. This week’s activities have been reported on The Register.Article 1
Article 2
There were 23 instances of the letters B and T, and no mention of alternative broadband technology campaigns being able to apply for the grant. Luckily, as has also been reported on The Register, this has now changed so if you are in Yorkshire or Humberside, get in touch with the RDA and find out about community campaign and network grants. They aren’t enough, as ever, but maybe they will help further the cause somewhat.
But one nice anecdote to throw into all this was in one of the community networks I am involved with. A property which is an ideal location for an antenna to help create the network is up for sale and the kind gentleman who is selling it said he would speak to the purchasers about siting the equipment and antenna. Trouble was, I don’t think he quite understood exactly what was required and a message came back from the new owner, “There is no way on God’s green earth that BT are putting anything in my house.” I rang and explained it is a community project using wireless, and all is now well, but that’s a message the corporates haven’t got yet either!
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