Author Archives: James Harrison

Build progress – 31/5/2014

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20140531-DSC_4068The build process continues; the bulk of the work is now complete in Moreton and the main road through the village is now getting fibre ducting and cables installed! You may have noticed the blue canes in the verge – these indicate the location of the connection pots that Gigaclear will install next to each property. If you have any concern about the location of these pots, do get in touch with our local Gigaclear representative (Max Poole on  07436 108327); you may have already had a visit from him to discuss the build.

20140531-DSC_407920140531-DSC_4094So far the progress brings the main dig to just outside the Church and Village Hall. Gigaclear seem to be doing a good job of keeping things tidy – most of the work has been in verges which as seen in West End bounce right back within weeks.

The network build has started!

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That’s right – there is now, at long last, a team of people with shovels and diggers installing the Northmoor, Bablockhythe and Moreton Broadband network!

Trench at Moreton Lane

Trench at Moreton Lane

The build started on Moreton lane and we anticipate that Gigaclear will have finished their work installing connection points in Moreton by around the middle of next week. Once their work in Moreton is done the cabinet and main village network will be next on their list.

Fibre and truck

Fibre ready for the trench on Moreton Lane

Northmoor Broadband contract signed

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The Northmoor, Bablockhythe and Moreton broadband project team are pleased to announce that after more than two years of work, the legal contract between our chosen supplier, Gigaclear, and West Oxfordshire District Council has been signed.

This follows the formal approval late last week of our State Aid application and our DEFRA funding agreement under the Rural Community Broadband Fund. These final legal steps are all now complete and Gigaclear will begin building the project very soon.  These legal processes could only be finalised after the open procurement process had been completed and a supplier selected.

More information will be made available on this website as the build process starts. For local residents there will be an event today, the 7th of May, at 18:30 at the Red Lion in Northmoor, and another event next Wednesday. You can find out more here. Our local community representative can also be reached for questions, and will be visiting every property in the area as part of the build process. His contact details and answers to common questions can be found on the FAQ page.

The entire project team are very happy to have reached this point after so much work – superfast broadband is coming to Northmoor, Bablockhythe and Moreton!

Fibre to the premises is coming to Northmoor!

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The Northmoor, Moreton and Bablockhythe community broadband team is delighted to announce that the the competitive procurement process run on our behalf by West Oxfordshire District Council has selected Gigaclear to build and operate our network.

The decision was arrived at through an in-depth tendering process and we were very pleased to have several credible bids to consider, proposing a number of different technical solutions.

The Gigaclear network will provide direct fibre connection to every single one of the 521 premises in the community, giving residents true next-generation superfast connections to the internet.  Equally important is the affordability of the service, with tariffs starting from £23 a month.

All this is possible due to grant support from the Rural Community Broadband Fund, administered by DEFRA.

Press release from West Oxfordshire District Council:

http://www.westoxon.gov.uk/news/feb/superfast-broadband-for-northmoor/

Press release from Gigaclear:

http://www.gigaclear.com/gigaclear-wins-rcbf-funded-bid-to-provide-ultrafast-broadband-to-northmoor/

Broadband – coming to you in 2014

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It’s been a long, hard road and 18 months of mind snapping paperwork but we have secured £200,287 in grant funding from the Rural Community Broadband Fund – part of DEFRA. This will be match funded by the winner of the procurement process.

What does this mean for the project? It means we’ve launched our invitation to tender (which can be found here on the South East Business Portal) and are asking for bidders for this funding to build our broadband network. If you know a network operator who might be interested, let them know! There’s also some time left (before 3rd Jan 2014) to respond to the State Aid consultation if you need to do so.

The expectation is that we should be able to select a bidder and commence the project around April 2014, with work completed by the end of 2014, if not sooner.

The amount of time and effort expended by many in the community to get us to this point has been immense and it’s a very satisfying stage to have reached.

This website has been updated with more information on what we are aiming to deliver, why we’re doing it, and some helpful facts and figures about the project.