Superfast Broadband has become an essential utility that enables people of all ages to work, learn and play using digital devices at their home or place of work. Unfortunately, despite the on-going efforts of both national and local Government and telecommunications companies there remains a significant number of communities across rural Gwynedd & Anglesey where families, businesses and visitors are unable to access these essential services via a superfast Broadband connection to the internet.
The Welsh Government’s Phase 2a rollout is tasked with ensuring that a significant number of these disconnected communities get connected to superfast broadband, however this still leaves nearly 10,000 properties across Gwynedd & Anglesey with no planned, or signed off dates for provision of superfast Broadband network services to their address.
Connected communities is a project run by Menter Mon, with the support of Cyngor Gwynedd Council, Anglesey County Council & the Welsh Government that aims to provide these disconnected communities with the capability, knowledge & access to resources that will help them get connected to superfast broadband themselves.
The first part of our project was to identify areas in Gwynedd & Anglesey where there were clusters of homes and businesses that were currently excluded from the planned extension of superfast broadband across North-west Wales. Once that areas had been identified using GIS and Welsh Government data sources, clusters of properties where the landscape and other factors such as potential connection points emerged that made them viable for consideration.
Areas that were deemed technically feasible were verified and further data was recorded i.e. no. of businesses, suitable connection points etc. Letters, emails and maps were sent to all County Councillors that had these areas within their wards in order to make them aware of the scheme and how it worked. Where there was interest, meetings were arranged to gain further understanding of the specific needs and level of interest/support for taking action to improve their lot.
The communities detailed on this site are what have emerged from this process. In total nearly 500 properties and businesses are located within these clusters with the potential for additional properties and businesses within each community to come through further community engagement.
A number of community meetings were held across Anglesey & Gwynedd or were scheduled to be held when Covid 19 lockdown forced us to pause.
In the light of ongoing restrictions and in order to progress, we have created this web-site to help explain the needs of each specific area and to facilitate engagement in place of the planned community events.
We do recognise the irony of being forced to use the internet in order to help local communities with poor internet connection speeds engage with the project and register their interest. We have tried to ensure that the site is simple and suitable for this purpose.
