Full speed ahead! Kirkburton and Honley move into the broadband fast lane thanks to Superfast West Yorkshire & York

People living and working in and around Kirkburton and Honley can now experience life in the broadband fast lane, thanks to the Superfast West Yorkshire & York programme.

As part of the programme’s multi million pound second phase, the Kirkburton and Honley telephone exchanges have both been upgraded to fibre bringing superfast broadband technology to the area for the first time. Twenty four new fibre broadband street cabinets connected to the exchanges mean that more than 5,300 homes and businesses in Kirkburton Village, Shelley, Upper Cumberworth, Shepley, Stocksmoor , Honley, Netherton and Thurstonland can now access broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps via their chosen broadband service provider. And further expansion is set to follow later in the programme.

In total across Kirklees, fibre broadband has become available in recent weeks to more than 7,200 premises, including more than 1,800 premises in Huddersfield and Batley, with many more to get access across the district.

Cllr Peter McBride, Kirklees Council, said: “This was a complex build on a busy road, and BT, Kirklees Council and the Superfast West Yorkshire & York team worked closely together to minimise disruption to residents – with engineers working nights to avoid traffic issues. These newly upgraded exchanges make superfast broadband a reality for Kirkburton and Honley. With a more reliable service and improved up and download speeds for many, homes and businesses have the opportunity to embrace technology.”

This second phase of the Superfast West Yorkshire & York roll-out will extendfibre coverage to 98 per cent of the programme area.[1] The additional £13 million investment will bring fibre broadband speeds within reach of 33,000 homes and businesses across West Yorkshire and York by the end of 2018.

Tom Keeney, BT’s regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “This second phase of the roll-out will see us reaching some of the most difficult and rural parts of West Yorkshire and York. Rural geographies present many challenges not faced in more urban areas. Long stretches of narrow, winding roads can create the need for temporary traffic lights and other traffic restrictions with engineers often having to build long stretches of new underground cabling ducts. There can also be complications connecting power to the new fibre cabinets situated in particularly remote locations.

“The arrival of fibre in Kirkburton for the first time is fantastic news, however there is still more to do and, as well as continuing the roll-out, we are also looking at ways to make existing fibre broadband services go faster and reach further. We want to keep the momentum going so communities the length and breadth of West Yorkshire and York get the maximum possible benefit in the shortest possible time.”

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee and leader of Bradford Council, said: “I’m delighted that residents and businesses in Kirkburton can now take advantage of superfast broadband speeds. By having a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve and working closely with businesses to achieve it, we have found ways to provide crucial high-speed internet access.”

Around 850,000 households and businesses in West Yorkshire now have access to high-speed fibre broadband as a result of Superfast West Yorkshire and BT’s own commercial fibre broadband programme. It’s an ‘opt in’ service, but because the Openreach network is ‘open’, residents and businesses wanting to upgrade have a wide choice of fibre broadband providers.

Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Calderdale Council, Kirklees Council, Leeds City Council, Wakefield Council, and York City Council, are working with BT to extend high-speed fibre broadband to 98 per cent of households and businesses across the majority of West Yorkshire and York by the end of 2018.

In total, £34.74 million has been invested in the Superfast West Yorkshire & York programme. This is made up of Government funding from Broadband Delivery UK and funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), BT and the five West Yorkshire local authorities.

For more information about the project or to find out when superfast broadband will be delivered in your area visit www.get-fibre.co.uk