Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP convened a meeting last Friday in Willersey Village Hall with District Councillors and a significant number of angry residents who are up in arms by a proposal from Full Fibre Limited to erect a large number of new wooden poles to install an unwanted additional broadband system to the village.

Willersey is a gem of a Cotswold village in the heart of the AONB. Gigaclear Ltd has already installed a comprehensive broadband system in the village using underground ducts.

Villagers at the meeting were outraged by Full Fibre Ltd’s proposals to install a rival broadband system installing large numbers of ugly wooden poles blighting people’s properties. Under the current telecommunications regulations they are allowed to do this.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP has written to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation & Technology, to urge that secondary legislation should be altered to prevent this type of controversial installation of wooden poles where a perfectly satisfactory underground broadband already exists.

He has also written to the Chief Planning Officer at Cotswold District Council urging them to use what limited powers they have to impose the most stringent conditions.

Finally, he has written to Chief Executive of Openreach to actively encourage them to use their existing underground ducts to install a new broadband system which would then make it unviable for Full Fibre to erect a new system involving expensive and totally unwanted new poles.

Commenting on the situation Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP said:

‘‘This is a crazy situation where a highly attractive village is being forced to accept a significant number of ugly wooden poles blighting people’s properties when a satisfactory broadband system already exists. I am trying to do all I can to support angry villagers in preventing this wholly unwanted and unpopular intrusion into villagers’ lives.’’