Broadband North Yorkshire conference
Posted by Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, at 13:10, Fri 25 February 2011:
Last week I attended the Broadband North Yorkshire conference in Ripon organised by North Yorkshire Members of parliament. Dozens of community groups, business leaders and industry figures came together to discuss the future vision of broadband across North Yorkshire.
The event heard that around one third of North Yorkshire’s households get below average broadband speeds with many communities unable to get any connection at all.
North Yorkshire County Council set out their vision to enable as many people and businesses as possible to be connected to superfast broadband in the years ahead. The Government have nominated the County as one of four pilot areas to roll-out high speed connections and the vision is to use that as a catalyst to get the whole of North Yorkshire online.
The Broadband North Yorkshire website (www.broadbandnorthyorkshire.com) was also formally launched to provide a gateway for further information about the campaign.
Almost 200 people attended the event held at Ripon Racecourse.
The campaign is supported by every Member of Parliament from across North Yorkshire and York including Foreign Secretary William Hague who recorded a video interview for the event.
Among the companies represented were BT, Virgin, Cable and Wireless, Avanti, the Post Office and Black Sheep Brewery. Organisations attending included the NHS, DirectGov, Race Online 2012, councils, charities and voluntary groups.
The campaign is great news for Harrogate and Knaresborough. Superfast broadband in North Yorkshire will mean improved communications capabilities for many local businesses and individuals, placing them in a better trading position and encouraging growth.
As industry moves towards increased online trading, it is important that our local area does not get left behind. The government’s decision to pilot the roll-out of superfast broadband here ensures that we are at the forefront of this nationwide race for superfast internet connection.
Comments
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Posted by Kirsty Aldridge, 23:20, Fri 25 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
This is fantastic news! I pay for a 20mb connection and am lucky if I get 3mb speed and stay connected...not very good when you are trying to buy, sell and communicate with businesses and others.
Posted by Conor McKenzie, 13:25, Sat 26 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
It is good news! I'm surprised it's not illegal to sell something like 20mb internet connection that is next to impossible to achieve!
Could I ask Andrew, if you read these comments, what MPs in North Yorkshire are you working with on this? I know Julian Smith (Ripon and Skipton MP) is one of them...
Posted by Andrew Jones, 14:55, Sat 26 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Conor
It's in paragraph 6: "The campaign is supported by every Member of Parliament from across North Yorkshire and York including Foreign Secretary William Hague who recorded a video interview for the event."
Posted by Conor McKenzie, 17:02, Sat 26 February 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Ahh ok, I didn't notice that part, I was reading it on my phone.
I remember reading a leaflet of your's before Chirstmas and I don't think all the MPs were involved as of then - I might still be wrong though.
Well done though! I'd be interested to hear what you think of Vodafone and O2's plans of placing a mast at the Bilton cricket club are.