More Support for Fibre Garden

Fibre Garden is delighted to be have been made a financial award by the South Lakeland Local Committee to assist with the further development costs of getting everything in place for the share offer and then the start of building the network. The award will secure further professional advice and additional resources to move the project forward.

Failure to Invest in Fibre Broadband

This is an interesting article in the siliconrepublic website that suggests that failure to invest in fibre broadband could make Europe an economic backwater.

'European nations and their respective incumbents’ inability to embark on ambitious fibre infrastructure plans that will prepare their countries for the 21st century and beyond could cost them dearly, the director general of the Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Hartwig Tauber told Siliconrepublic.com.

He said that by 2020 when the EU is targeting 50pc of homes having 100Mbps, consumers will be requiring download speeds of 170Mbps and upload speeds of 100Mbps.'

A Community Shows the Way

Our neighbours over in Lancashire, who are successfully running the B4ARN project to deliver super-fast fibre optic broadband to a large number of remote properties, were featured on BBC Breakfast News this morning as part of an open day event.

The video can be seen here on Rory Cellen-Jones blog who visited and gave this report.

If everything goes to plan, residents of Garsdale and Dentdale can expect similar activity later on this year!

Buyers will pay more for a house

A survey by the Halifax reveals that the majority of people are willing to pay more for a house with good broadband.  We know we've already seen statistics to show houses with good broadband sell for higher prices, but this one seems to be asking people how much more they are willing to pay for a house with better broadband and showing a willingness to pay an extra, with a fifth of people surveyed saying they would pay 4 to 10% extra from even a relatively modest improvement in broadband.

Even in the NE it appears 85% are willing to pay an extra 3%. I expect it's perhaps more in reality, but people don't like saying they'll pay more.  If this is the situation now, it will be even more important in years to come, and it points to £1000 per property being good value for a future-proof fibre connection that will add thousands in home value.

Tax Advisers Appointed

Fibre GarDen is pleased to announce the appointment of Tait Walker Chartered Accountants as our tax advisers to guide us through the process of seeking approval for an Enterprise Investment Scheme and then to be available for further advice and support through the Share Offer period and beyond.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, they have previously worked with Muckle LLP who we have also recently appointed. The two appointments now provide the professional support needed to ensure the robustness of the project and to give reassurance to potential investors.

Fibre GarDen Forges Forward

Fibre GarDen, the community interest company which has been set up to build a fibre-optic network to every property in Garsdale and Dentdale, has moved several steps closer to bringing super-fast broadband to the communities.

In January the Fibre GarDen board was joined by Adrian Gordon and Tony Robinson. Adrian brings experience of developing internet based services to the project and

Tony works in mobile telephony software.

The New Year also brought excellent news in the form of another successful grant application which follows DEFRA's commitment to provide £157,500 to the project. Now, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has demonstrated support for the project through a grant of £14,900 from its Sustainable Development Fund. This grant enables Fibre GarDen to secure the legal advice it needs to present a share prospectus to the community as the second phase of our fundraising. That advice will be provided by the Newcastle law firm Muckle LLP who won the award for Regional Law Firm of the Year, 2012. We are grateful to Muckle LLP who will provide some of the advice free of charge. We anticipate that we will be bringing the share prospectus to the communities in April.

A different part of the ongoing work is the detailed mapping of the network route. In this, we have received a lot of support from Garsdale Design who have provided us with mapping software. Tom Woof, who lives at Greenwood Haw Farm, is working along the dales to confirm land ownership along the proposed network route. Once he has done so, we will approach landowners to secure permission to build the network.

Simultaneously, we have published our State Aid Notice for the required duration of 30 days with no challenges and are on the point of issuing our Invitation To Tender (ITT) to suppliers of materials and services.

We are also fortunate to have secured significant support from YDNP who are providing us with advice about land designations such as protected verges, common-land and stewardship. This will enable us to design the route to minimise environmental impact and simplify planning issues. We are delighted that YDNP has embraced the project so whole-heartedly and are grateful for their support.

2013 will be a big year for Fibre GarDen and we look forward to bringing you more news in the coming months.

Andrew Fleck - Chairman

Legal Advice

Fibre GarDen is pleased to announce the appointment of Muckle LLP as our legal advisers.  They are based in Newcastle and have just been award the Regional Law Firm of the Year. Muckle will be focusing on the formation of the required legal structures and advising on the Share Prospectus, which is to be launched shortly.

Broadband Cabinets

DCMS have posted information regarding a consultation period on the proposed changes for the siting of broadband cabinets and  overhead lines for the deployment of superfast broadband networks.  This really only effects BT and possibly Virgin Media but interesting nonetheless.

Regardless of the outcome, we are planning to hide all of our infrastructure and not have metal cabinets by the roadside or erect any overhead lines.