Villagers fuming over ‘ridiculous’ broadband saga

BT said no despite connection just yards away

Villagers in Barham were furious after BT claimed it could not provide high-speed broadband to the new village post office – despite a line already serving a temporary shop just yards away.

The phone company said it was not technically possible to install a fast line to the new store in the extended village hall.

But the claim sparked anger because the temporary shop nearby – housed in a former shipping container in the hall car park – has super-quick fibre broadband.

Members of the Nailbourne Community Store Association, which runs the shop, feared electronic payments at the new store would be impossibly slow, but struggled to get a valid explanation from BT.

The issue tempered the excitement over the opening of the £800,000 village hall, which will accommodate a new shop three times the size of the existing one, a bigger hall, meeting rooms and a new kitchen.

The problem prompted Canterbury MP Julian Brazier to write to the chief executive of BT to complain, calling on him to help resolve it.

NCSA chairman Michael Pearson said: “It’s ridiculous because we already have a fast connection to the old unit just a few feet away.

“It’s all something to do with the connection going to another box but chasing the company and Openreach has been like chasing shadows.

“The issue seems to have got bogged down in commercial bureaucracy and it’s an irritation we could have done without, having come so far.”

Now, following the complaints, including one from city council leader Simon Cook, BT has promised to resolve the issue in time for the shop’s opening next month.

An engineer revisited the site and claims to have found a solution to ensure fibre broadband is available to the building.

Picture: Wayne McCabe FM3881228 Michael Pearson outside the new village hall and post office