Agenda item

To consider a report by the Digital Officer on the Internet Connectivity in Denbighshire, the progress made to date, and future plans, for increasing and improving/upgrading internet connectivity for all areas of the county (copy attached).

The Lead Member for Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage introduced the Internet Connectivity in Denbighshire report (previously circulated) to the Committee.

 

Out of the total 50,501 premises in Denbighshire, 2,690 premises received internet speeds of 30Mbs or less and 1,145 premises received internet speeds of 10Mbs or less (Appendix A to the report provided further details to Members).

 

‘Helping residents to understand options and solutions for improved internet connectivity’ was an aim within the Corporate Plan and Denbighshire County Council (DCC) had invested in a Digital Officer post (from February 2020 to May 2025) to advise individuals, businesses and communities on this. The Digital Officer worked closely with Members and City, Town and Community Councillors when advising communities.

 

The Council was also represented on the Ambition North Wales Digital Board and Digital Programmes. The work was at a strategic and regional level and concentrated on improving infrastructure across the region.

 

The changing commercial and policy intervention environment made this work challenging due to commercial changes and announcements from Openreach and interventions from the UK government which could result in North Wales Ambition Board Projects becoming no longer viable or required as the commercial roll outs and UK Government’s interventions progressed. This work was medium to long term and as such projects were subject to change to reflect the changing environment.

 

The Principal Manager Community Resilience further explained to members of the Committee the importance of internet connectivity within the community.

 

There were 3 pillars of digital inclusion-

·       Access to equipment

·       Knowledge on using equipment

·       Connectivity Infrastructure

Not having access to the internet could have a detrimental impact on life opportunities. Having broadband connectivity was about having the ability to engage and connect within the community including access to education, employment opportunities, and health advice.

 

The Digital Officer explained that whilst most counties had a handful of companies installing fibre network infrastructure in Denbighshire Openreach was the only company that was actively installing the required infrastructure.  Despite this Denbighshire was above the Welsh average for internet connectivity however, there was a need to ensure rural parts of the county had access to the same level of connectivity as more urban areas. 762 premises within the county who previously did not have a fibre connection would in the near future be connected to fibre, this had been secured via Gigabit voucher schemes.  This in turn would help nearby premises access the fibre network at a more affordable price.

 

The Partnership Director for Wales and the West of England for Openreach stated that Denbighshire had some of the best connectivity across Wales in relation to fibre. There had been a £11 million investment so far to upgrade the copper network to full fibre and 11 new exchanges across the county had now been earmarked for being commercial build.

 

The Gigabit voucher scheme has temporarily been paused, however, 4 new voucher lead schemes to help residents with their connectivity have been launched in Denbighshire recently, one of the communities to benefit from this scheme was Llandyrnog.

 

The Chair thanked the Officers and the Lead Member for the report and welcomed questions from Members.

 

Members questioned where the infrastructure build would be by the end of 2025 and which communities/exchanges would still be without fibre. The Openreach representative explained that by the end of 2026 they would hope that 80% of the properties in the current exchange upgrade program would be connected to full fibre.  A map of these areas can be found at https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband

 

 

Members requested clarity on the Starlink system referred to within the report. The Digital Officer explained that this was a new satellite system, the cost to a household to have this system would be £75 a month which would provide 100 megabytes per second.

 

Members referred to the UK Government Gigabit Voucher scheme which would be ending in March 2025, it’s cessation having an impact on fibre being brought to rural areas via Openreach’s Fibre Community Partnership. The Digital Officer and Openreach Officer reported that the voucher scheme had just been extended for two years.

 

Members referred to the map attached to the report on the planned exchanges between now and December 2026 and questioned how areas were prioritised. The Openreach Officer explained that the plans were based on the viability of the infrastructure build within the area.

 

Members questioned if there was a difficulty in getting residents to utilise the fibre connection available to them and use the equipment they had at home and whether there was data on how many internet users there were in the County. The Principal Manager Community Resilience stated that a digital survey had been conducted on tenants in Council properties, the survey contained an array of questions relating to the use of the internet. Members felt that data on the number of residents who use and do not use the internet would be helpful in the future.

 

Responding to questions on whether having communities within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) was challenging in terms of gaining permission to erect telegraph poles etc. and whether if this designation were to change to National Park status this would be even more problematic, the Openreach representative advised that whilst this may be a consideration the main obstacle was the rurality of the area and sparse nature of properties within these rural communities. Due to the costs entailed with laying the essential infrastructure needed to deliver the services it was imperative that sufficient funding was secured before fibre,4G or 5G could be rolled-out to any areas in Denbighshire or anywhere countrywide.

 

Members emphasised the importance of retaining the role of a Digital Officer within the Council as this post had a key part to play in educating and supporting residents and communities during the continued roll out of full fibre across the County.

 

At the conclusion of a comprehensive discussion the Chair thanked everyone for their input.  He also thanked Martin Williams, Openreach’s Partnership Director for Wales and the West of England for attending and answering the Committee’s questions.

 

The Committee:

 

Resolved:  subject to the above answers and observations to –

 

(i)             receive the information provided regarding the current situation in respect of internet and telephony connectivity in Denbighshire;

(ii)           acknowledge and emphasise the importance of the Council’s Digital Officer post in supporting Denbighshire residents and communities, particularly those in hard-to-reach areas, to access affordable effective internet and telephony services; and

(iii)         request that a further report be presented to Scrutiny in 12 months’ time detailing local and national progress in relation to internet and telephony connectivity matters.

 

At this juncture in the meeting the Committee paused for a comfort break. The meeting resumed at 11.15am