Project Gigabit

Project Gigabit is a £5 billion government infrastructure project to enable and deliver fast, reliable digital connectivity for the UK. The prime objective of the programme is to deliver gigabit broadband to those areas of the country that are commercially unviable for broadband infrastructure suppliers to build to without public funding.

Previous broadband infrastructure procurements were undertaken by Shropshire Council, but Building Digital UK (BDUK) is now responsible for procurements, contracts and supplier management, not Shropshire Council. BDUK is an executive agency, sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology.

For the purposes of Project Gigabit, Astley is classified as being in North Shropshire and the necessary infrastructure is being installed by Freedom Fibre Limited who will, where possible, use the existing apparatus although this isn't always possible. Apparently it is fairly easy to reuse telegraph poles, but the power poles are a different matter and Freedom Fibre will have to install some additional apparatus.

Unfortunately Project Gigabit is something that Astley Parish Council, or indeed Shropshire Council, has no control over. It is hoped that a community meeting can be arranged in the near future where a representative from Freedom Fibre will come out and speak with local residents about their concerns prior to the installation of new apparatus taking place. If this can be arranged it will be advertised under Events on this website.

Further information can be found on this website here