RESIDENTS in Stonehaugh have launched a bid aimed at installing fibre broadband for some of the area’s most rural properties.

Those involved with the Warksburn Community Fibre Project are hoping to bring an end to years of dealing with painfully slow internet speeds or inflated monthly costs for a satellite service.

A public meeting, attended by more than 25 people, took place last month and was attended by representatives of iNorthumberland, the partnership between Northumberland County Council, the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) fund, BT Group and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

“I think this is born out of frustration for a lot of people,” explained resident Phil Robertson.

“The project will involve us all working together with the support of iNorthumberland and Openreach to gauge demand for a faster service.

“We will then present this demand to potential suppliers who will draw up plans to install the required infrastructure.

“We know there are grants available if the demand is there, so hopefully we can make use of external funding to get this off the ground.”

Robert and Helen Scott run haulage businesses R&H Scott and SGS Timber Haulage from Stonehaugh Garage and are among 50 local residents and businesses to have signed up in support of improvements to connection speeds.

“Everything we do would just be so much quicker if this scheme was successful,” explained Helen.

“From sending out customer invoices to doing our accounts and payroll, it would just save so much time each day.”

A spokeswoman for iNorthumberland said: “Unfortunately the costs of a cabinet-based solution in this location have been found to be prohibitively high and so alternative solutions have had to be considered.

“A community fibre-based scheme is one possible option and we may also be able to explore alternative technologies such as wireless.”

Anyone who would like to find out more or express an interest in the scheme is asked to contact Phil on ssursum@btinternet.com or resident, Steve Batey, on blindpew@madasafish.com

The scheme follows a project in the Allen Valleys which will see the area become one of the first in the UK to benefit from hyper-fast broadband.

The B4AV group is holding a meeting on Wednesday at 7pm at Langley Village Hall, to update the Allen Valleys community on the progress with installing the network.