Broadband Update
Nottinghamshire County Council have confirmed that the village of Sutton Bonington is to be included within the Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire programme. Unfortunately not all premises within Sutton Bonington will be included within the programme due to technical difficulties identified during the initial survey work.
However, as the Programme progresses and technology advances Nottinghamshire County Council are hopeful that these difficulties can be overcome making it possible to include more premises at the end of the Programme (2016) or via a new project government has launched known as the Superfast Extension Programme (SEP). Nottinghamshire County Council have assured the Council that they will continue to explore all further funding and technology opportunities to reach as many premises as they can throughout the County with fibre based broadband.
The County Council’s deployment plans with BT are developed based on initial ‘desk top’ modelling work. This draws on the best known information about the area and existing networks but without robust testing at this stage. This is a pre-planning phase. In order to test whether these expected plans are viable and are deliverable within the
envisaged timescales, further planning and on-site survey work was undertaken. The planning and survey work informs detailed network design and the location of equipment essential to that network. An on site survey was carried out on all the underground ducts serving homes and businesses in the planned coverage area. Surveyors also checked access to a power sources. This is important as new cabinets supporting fibre need power whilst existing cabinets supporting traditional copper networks do not.
Following the on site survey a plan is then drawn up for exactly where the fibre, new ducts, street cabinets and additional underground and over ground equipment will go. The planners and surveyors will work with the Highways Authority and local planning authorities to ensure local considerations are taken into account as far as possible and that the best location for the installation of new cabinets and equipment can be found.
There are many considerations in this respect including being sensitive to areas of conservation, trying to avoid obstructing footways, avoiding trees (and therefore tree roots which may cause damage), avoiding existing buried utilities like gas and water pipes, ensuring the line of sight for highway users is not obstructed, and considering land
ownership and any wayleave permissions, amongst others.
Ideally, new cabinets supporting fibre need to be located as close to an existing copper cabinet as possible to maximise performance.
In respect of those areas for which a broadband solution has yet to be confirmed, each step of progress which takes us closer to increased coverage will be reported via the programme website and illustrated on the Deployment maps. As things currently stand, this will be a ‘live’ and ongoing programme between now and 2016.