Superfast fibre broadband will soon be available to an extra 10,000 homes and businesses across Cheshire, Halton and Warrington thanks to the second phase of a rollout by Connecting Cheshire.

The new cabling work has already started and will see more than £6m invested by summer 2017 to provide fibre broadband technology to many additional areas.

The phase two funding has been provided by central government, as well as Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington councilsm and supplemented by funding from BT. Rural areas such as Arley, Burleydam, Gawsworth, Huxley and Wincle will be boosted for the first time as the network is extended.

Moreover, additional coverage will be provided in some remaining urban areas, while more rural and outlying areas such as Malpas, Cholmondeley, Bunbury and Mobberley are also set to benefit.

To date, the Connecting Cheshire partnership with BT has given more than 85,000 premises access to high-speed fibre broadband.

The partnership is currently seeking further funding to include more areas outside its current plans and to improve speeds in areas where the technology is less effective and speeds are lower.

David Brown (pictured), deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, 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."

Mike Blackburn, BT regional director for the North West, said: "BT has provided a further £1.8m to boost the reach of the new rollout 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."

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