Broadband Connections to New-build Properties

Part of 2. Questions to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:59 pm on 20 June 2018.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 2:59, 20 June 2018

Well, thank you for that answer. I've raised with you previously the issue of Dyffryn y Coed, a new estate in Church Village in my constituency. The problem appears to be this: they only have a copper connection although an earlier part of the estate actually has fibre; a lot of people living there require high-speed broadband because of their work in order to do that. The problem appears to be that, seven or eight years ago, a planning application was made, permission was given and that was the end of the matter. It's left to BT to then decide what they're going to connect, what they think is appropriate, and it's now left to the residents to either persuade BT to pay for it or to apply for grants to go through a bureaucratic process in order to get that higher speed broadband, which they need. It seems to me that it should be a matter of course that the highest available speed that is reasonably available should be provided. But the system appears to be breaking down because there's no obligation on either the local authority or on BT, and the house developer, obviously, is somewhere within the middle of all that. What can be done to actually ensure that, where these new developments take place, there are proper levels of broadband actually provided; that there is an obligation on the providers, that the system actually works to ensure that that happens?