By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Villagers who live about a mile from Gloucester city centre say they are “stranded on a digital island” with slower internet speeds.
Around 200 properties across 11 streets in Hempsted have “legacy” copper internet connections and typically see speeds of around 20 to 50 Mbps, according to local resident Lasse Thomsen.
He is among the dozens of residents who have been given false hope in recent years about new faster broadband connections being installed in their streets.
Mr Thomsen said City Fibre sent direct emails to residents in September 2023 assuring residents that work would be starting soon but have not added the fibre cables.
“[They] are not interested in completing their rollout anytime soon,” he said.
“Although they have been back to resurface the pavements that had sunk as a result of their handiwork!
“To give credit where it is due, Openreach has recently been helpful in rolling out fibre to selected parts of Hempsted, particularly along Hempsted Lane, where existing overhead pole infrastructure made installation straightforward. However, a massive portion of the village remains completely left behind.”
But Mr Thomsen said there have been” many excuses made over the years”.
“The main argument being that they could not get the fibre cables over the canal,” he said.
“However, Hempsted has seen considerable re-development in housing over the years and each new development has been built with a full-fibre connection, so clearly it is here.”
He said Openreach has stated it is not currently economically viable for them to extend full fibre to the remaining roads without extra funding.
“This is essentially the whole of the old village in Hempsted, who have had to live with all the inconvenience of the building work and none of the benefits,” Mr Lasse added.
“Consequently, approximately 200 addresses across 11 streets remain stranded on legacy copper connections. Full fibre will increase our connection speed from a typical 20-50mbps to 300-1600mbps.”
Mr Lasse said the community is pushing hard for the area to qualify for the UK Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) gigabit broadband voucher scheme as Openreach needs the funding to bridge the gap.
“However, we face a major bureaucratic hurdle: Government datasets currently classify these unserved streets as having full fibre ‘planned’ by commercial providers,” he added.
“Because BDUK rules disqualify areas with active commercial plans from receiving vouchers, this false status threatens to block us from the very funding we need, leaving residents in a catch-22 where providers won’t build without funding, but the Government won’t grant funding because they mistakenly believe a build is already happening.”
Residents have raised the issue with Openreach, City Fibre. And Gloucester’s Labour MP Alex McIntyre is engaging with them about the issue.
Mr Lasse added: “We are fighting to ensure that BDUK records accurately reflect the reality on the ground so that our village isn’t left stranded as a ‘digital island’ while surrounding areas enjoy gigabit speeds.
“It’s also worth noting that BDUK awarded Gigaclear the contract for Gloucestershire in February 2024, yet we have received no communication from them.”
Openreach, who are not the only network providers in Gloucester, said they are investing heavily to bring full fibre broadband to thousands of homes and businesses across the city.
“Some roads like Waters Reach and Hilton Close already have access to our new network and we’re still working to upgrade more homes and businesses across the area,” a spokesperson said.
“We’re committed to reaching as many people as possible, and people can check the latest information on what’s available via the postcode checker on our website.”
City Fibre has been approached for comment while Gigaclear has declined to do so.