Great news: 40-80mbps broadband upgrade for BoA exchange by end of next year

March 23, 2012 by admin

Reprinted from an online mag called ISP Review, dateline 20 March:

“BTOpenreach, which provides UK ISPs with access to BT’s local and national telecoms infrastructure, has today announced the next batch of 73 new telephone exchange upgrades for its superfast ‘up to’ 40-80Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) and 100-300Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises( FTTP ) based internet access technologies.

The new list (phases 9b), when taken by itself, covers 705,000 homes and businesses (150,400 premises of which are in Scotland). The majority of these exchanges have been given a Ready for Service (RFS) date of Spring 2013 and, once enabled, should bring BT’s total superfast broadband coverage up to almost 16 Million UK premises.”

The list includes BRADFORD ON AVON and BT OpenReach are predicting exchange upgrade by the end of 2013.

The article continues:

“Each of the telephone exchanges mentioned above will support BT’s FTTC technology, although at this point it’s not clear whether any of those listed will also be enabled for the operators fastest fibre optic FTTP service (we hope to have an answer shortly). A number of UK ISPs are already offering BT-based superfast FTTC broadband services, although BT-Infinity and PlusNet are still two of the cheapest.

“It’s also worth reminding readers that BT’s FTTP service will be available “on demand” (FTTP on Demand) in all FTTC enabled areas by Spring 2013. This will be a premium product offering very fast speeds and will be aimed at small to medium businesses (not the mass market), although home users should be able to purchase related packages (expect them to be pricey).”

NOTE: This does not mean that everyone in BoA will immediately be able to get the super fast service. What it means is that the service will be available from the BoA exchange. It will then be up to your own telecoms service provider (e.g. BT, TalkTalk, Orange etc) what they offer and when – although the hope must be that they itch in straight away. It’s great news for small businesses and the more heavily online of us.

 

No Comments / Posted in General

Seven private houses or a town quarter revived?

January 8, 2011 by admin

7 January: The choice is simple: do we allow one individual speculator who has no interest in the town to profit by building on the Mill Lane car park, to the private benefit of half a dozen new homeowners?

Or do we get hold of the land as a community asset, unlock the opportunity and the space for several dozen new jobs, deliver vitally needed public car parking to the benefit of local people and retailers, and in so doing also provide a public space that reflects the heritage of the area?

The Mill Lane car park was once the walled gardens for Manvers House and has never been built on. That the ground has been level for a long time is evidenced by the height of the north retaining wall – presumably made from Georgian brick and almost 6m high. Although covered for the last few decades in tarmac and used as a car park for the Kingston Mills site down the hill, its situation as an open space in the heart of the town is part of BoA’s built environment heritage.

Although Avon moved on from BoA a few years ago, they still own the land. But now a London-based speculative developer has put in a planning application to build seven houses on the land, ruining the contiguity of the space and contributing nothing to the town. The worst kind of speculative infill.

The Bradford on Avon Development Trust is leading the fight to get the application rejected on principle (the same developer tried before, in 2008, and was rebuffed then). But we’re not just opposing. We’re also putting together a proposal to acquire the car park and turn it into a much needed public pay-and-display car park for ±30 cars – the only one north of the river.

As a second stage we want to build artists’s workshops on the space in a low-carbon mews-style development with undercroft parking – and to landscape the car park so that it carries an echo of its past as a walled garden. In so doing, we can also provide access to a neighbouring yard which will unlock the potential for some 5,000 sqft of employment space that is currently empty and difficult to let or sell because of access problems.

Let’s hope the planning officers agree with our logic – then it’s full steam ahead to raise funds and get the scheme on the road!

No Comments / Posted in Mill Lane car park

Welcome to the Bradford on Avon Development Trust!

November 29, 2010 by admin

The Bradford on Avon Development Trust was formed in 2001. Nine years on, it is being relaunched with new purpose and new aims. More details soon!

1 Comment / Posted in General