Project B as a whole did not receive enough pledges to proceed, but I asked Openreach to look at the density of pledges to see if it could be split up into smaller projects that would be viable. They produced a heatmap of where the pledges were and have now formed a new project B1. This covers approx 174 houses and they confirmed to me this week that there are enough vouchers to cover the build cost and it can go ahead, so as long as the residents who pledged confirm they wish to proceed with fibre. The good news is that is also a surplus of approx 12% of pledged vouchers to allow for any dropouts that may occur.
I am waiting to hear the latest figures for project A, but this one is very nearly over the line as well and which leaves the remaining houses in project B which Openreach are re-costing to see if there is another viable project left.
The timeline for B1 is now as follows -
1. Gigabit emails will be sent out within the next week to those who have pledged.
2. Watch out for this email as it has to be replied to for the voucher to become "live" and sometimes ends up in junk/spam folder.
3. Once these are all returned, the DCMS has to verify the vouchers internally.
4. Assuming the GB emails returned match the pledge figure, the project B1 moves into delivery and has a 12 month build time before going live.
This will become the third fibre gigabit scheme for Goudhurst and thanks to everyone who spread the word and help get this one off the ground . Any questions please contact me as usual at - https://www.david-knight.org/
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