Epping chosen for pilot broadband project
Epping Forest has been selected as the location to pilot a new rural broadband project, it has been announced this week.
Essex County Council (ECC) agreed to the Rural Challenge Project on Tuesday (23 June). Together with Epping Forest District Council and a broadband provider, the council will invest £7.5 million in the scheme which has the goal of connecting around 4,500 homes and businesses in the region with superfast broadband.
The roll-out is scheduled to take place over the next six years and the aim is to provide almost all properties in the rural area of Epping with broadband speeds of at least 24Mbps by 2020.
Councillor Alan Lion, who is responsible for at Epping Forest District Council, said: "I am very pleased that Epping Forest has been selected to pilot the rural challenge project in Essex.
"Faster broadband speeds means that our residents and businesses based in rural areas of the district will benefit from much better connectivity than currently available and will provide a much more reliable internet service."
According to a statement from ECC, homes in the north east of Epping will be the first to benefit, including the likes of Stapleford Fyfield, Ongar, Bobbingworth and Magdalen Laver.
The Rural Challenge Project comes as part of the wider Superfast Essex initiative, which aims to get 116,000 premises across Essex access to superfast broadband by 2020. Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey says that the project has made "tremendous progress" so far and has praised this latest project to help the most rural part of the county access the high internet speeds they need.
Work on the project will reportedly begin in November this year, with the first homes and businesses due to get access to the superfast broadband just a month later.
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