Application submitted:
There are three key questions on the form to be answered as follows:
- Provide a description of the Group, its objectives, mission statement, history and how it has developed
Fibre GarDen is a community company established to deliver a fully inclusive future-proofed fibre to the home (FTTH) broadband network in Garsdale and Dentdale, two dales located in South-East Cumbria, close to the North Yorkshire and Lancashire boundaries and inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
This has been a joint endeavour as we recognized early on that combining our resources and efforts would be beneficial to the residents and businesses of both dales. It has the approval and support of both Parish Councils and the not for profit community broadband company has been established with a strong volunteer management team with combined experience in finance, marketing, fibre optic technology, education, health provision, and farming services.
The project is ambitious, as its aim is not simply to increase rural broadband speeds, but to demonstrate how economic disadvantage and social exclusion can be overcome in a rural area by the provision of future-proof Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband. In order to achieve its goals, it will harness community support and action alongside government investment and commercial partnership.
The volunteer management team has now been working nearly two years with DEFRA, Broadband UK (BDUK), Cumbria County Council and Tim Farron MP to achieve the key first funding from the government as a foundation stone to enable this project.
- Provide a description of the project, new or existing, what is it hoping to achieve, how many people affected, evidence of success to date, how it fits in with what the charity as a whole is working towards
A detailed business plan has been developed which informs that a 60km FTTH network connecting the two dales and 500+ premises will be constructed with a community organisational and digging effort and farmers’ community spirit. This is fully costed to a high technical standard including network installation, fibre cabling and fibre types, installation and fusion splicing, telephony, quality of service, infrastructure services and ongoing management thereof.
The network that is created will provide a 100% fibre optic cable to all properties and businesses, and thus be fully future-proofed; enable initial broadband speeds of 40Mbps and 100 Mbps, with the option for Gb/s service in the future depending upon need and growth in demand, thereby enabling enabling the most advanced business, education, media, healthcare, tourism and agricultural usage and applications in a rural setting.
Success to date includes active engagement with our community through meetings, a regular blogspot with positive feedback, an initial intention by over 60% of our premises to take up the service and indication of an investment amount in excess of £200,000 that can be raised from individuals within the community through a community share issue to finance the project. Furthermore on the 12th September the Secretary of State, The Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson MP visited Garsdale to announce that Fibre Garden would be the first Rural Broadband Pilot in Cumbria to receive a £157,500 grant under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) scheme.
We have also received recognition from Cumbria County Council and BDUK as follows:
“Cumbria County Council regards fibre GarDen CIC’s planned FTTP local network as an important part of the overall broadband strategy for Cumbria. The significant efforts of fibre GarDen CIC have been instrumental in achieving the best possible outcome for the pan-County rollout and the successful construction of their network will be a valuable contribution to the provision of superfast broadband in the county”
Alan Cook, Project Manager, Cumbria County Council
"Fibre GarDen’s help in exploring ways in which communities can actively support suppliers to deliver superfast broadband access to deeply rural areas has been extremely useful in helping us develop a number of potential products for communities in similar locations across the country to utilize”
Robert Sullivan , Chief Executive, Broadband Delivery UK
This is significant as Cumbria is a location where 18% of properties do not have access to at least 2Mbps broadband at present, reflecting the rural nature of much of the County.
For us it means an end to rural digital poverty, the opportunity to revitalise our communities, and the most exciting and ambitious infrastructure project since the construction of the railways 150 years ago transformed national communications for our dales.
Furthermore the effect will not be limited to the 500 premises that will be served by this initial network as we are already reaching out to surrounding communities who have expressed an interest to join us in this endeavour and extend our community network to their areas. In addition the project will have the potential to impact upon the 20,000 people who live and work in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the over 8 million tourists that visit every year.
- Why do they deserve it? What great work have they done, what evidence is there in their impact, what else can be achieved if they get the £5,000 grant
John Colton, Technical Director of Fibre Garden has been the driving force on the project since its inception and critical in bringing together our two dales. He is widely acknowledged as one of the UK's leading experts on fibre optic technology and runs a training centre in Garsdale that includes instruction given to telecommunications companies from the UK and internationally.
He has that unique ability to translate potentially complex matters into simple to understand messages that can be readily taken forward by other culture carriers into the community. His modesty, self effacing nature and good humour have all been critical aspects of the success to date in keeping the whole volunteer team on course to achieve success. He has worked for several thousands of hours on the business model and technical features of our project, cajoling and encouraging suppliers to offer us the best deals on equipment.
He was instrumental in encouraging the consideration and current evaluation of our innovative possible backhaul solution, provided by Network Rail Telecoms via fibre optic cable along the Settle- Carlisle railway line. If this pilot is adopted, and successful, this will provide a blueprint for rural communities across the nation. His passion and conviction is second to none and must be recognised by your judges not just in a regional context, but also a national one. He will apply the grant to furthering the objectives of our project and in particular helping to explain to those less advantaged about how a FTTH service will transform their lives in the future.
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