Denbighshire County Council is calling on residents and businesses in the county that do not have access to broadband or experience a slow connection speed to get in touch.
The Council is aware that a number of communities across the county do not have access to broadband or the speed of connection is extremely slow.
There is a cluster of communities, mainly in rural locations south of Denbighshire, that cannot access broadband. Other areas that have broadband suffer from being a long distance from a telephone exchange and with distance the quality of broadband provision degrades e.g. Prestatyn.
A number of communications have been received by the Council from residents asking for help in identifying alternative options for broadband access.
While the Council is not able to directly provide broadband for residential use because of restrictions around State Aid, it has a lead role in enabling communities to access opportunities to better broadband services and promoting local economic development that often requires access to internet services.
WAG supports local people and business through a community bid to the Broadband Support Scheme. The scheme enables individuals and groups in remaining Welsh broadband ‘notspots’ to approach internet service providers directly. They can apply for a grant of up to £1,000 for individual premises to help with the set-up and installation costs of a broadband connection.
Cara Williams, Denbighshire’s Head of Customer Services, said: “We realise that not having access to broadband or having an extremely slow connection can be extremely frustrating and whilst the Council cannot provide broadband directly to citizens but we are eager to provide support to communities to help find their own solutions.
“We can provide interested parties with information about potential funding sources to find alternative solutions and we can possibly arrange an event to allow people in a similar position together to discuss a way forward, if there is a desire locally to do so.
“We have already seen an example where villagers in the Graigfechan area have worked with Coleg Llysfasi to address their own broadband issues. We want to see whether other communities are interested in getting together to share ideas and to identify a way forward.”
You can access more information on our website: www.denbighshire.gov.uk/broadband or through our Facebook page: “Broadband NotSpots – Denbighshire”. Free internet access is available in local libraries.
To have your say, you can also contact the council by phone: 01824 706222
or via e-mail: [email protected]
