Rural communities in Cheshire West and Chester will finally join the superfast lane in the latest broadband roll-out.
Homes and businesses in Arley, Huxley , Little Leigh and Shocklach will be among an additional 10,000 across Cheshire able to access superfast fibre broadband, thanks to Connecting Cheshire.
More than £6m will be invested by summer 2017 to provide fibre broadband technology to many areas that were unable to benefit from previous roll-outs.
Funding for this second phase has been provided by the Government, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington councils and supplemented by funding from BT.
Outlying areas such as Malpas, Picton and Saighton are also set to benefit.
'Fantastic news'
Cllr Brian Clarke , cabinet member for economic development and infrastructure, said: "This is fantastic news for residents as we will be able to reach more premises with fibre, particularly those rural areas where some of the lowest speeds remain.
"We are determined to ensure that faster broadband is available to as many premises as possible so that the social and economic benefits can be realised – not only for our businesses but for people of all ages.”
More than 450 street cabinets have already gone live and new maps set out the expected timetable for the roll-out up to the end of the current programme in 2017.
Extra funding sought
Connecting Cheshire is actively seeking additional funding to extend the network beyond its current plans and to increase speeds in the most rural and technically challenging areas.
Mike Blackburn, BT regional director for the North West, added: "BT has provided a further £1.7m to boost the reach of the new roll-out of this truly transformational technology.
"And, in addition, the Openreach engineers have done a superb job, in such a short space of time, to ensure that so many more homes and businesses in Cheshire can benefit from a more connected society.”
For full details of the areas included and details of a public information event on November 6th see www.chesterchronicle.co.uk