Sir, – I recently attended the broadband conference at Fountains Abbey, chaired by Julian Smith MP.
A website was advertised on the day. When I visited it I found that the telephone exchange (Melmerby) which serves our village was not in the plan to be upgraded.
I wrote to BT Openreach chief executive Ms O Garfield to ask why. Someone from her office telephoned last Thursday and stated that this exchange was not in the plan to be upgraded, neither was the poor old aluminium wiring serving all our village (which constantly breaks down) to be replaced. On a good day we get up to 1.5mbs!
Some isolated villages in the Dales have already been provided with fast reliable broadband connections.
However, Baldersby is on the main A61 half-way between Ripon and Thirsk and is hardly an isolated village.
It certainly appears that all the wonderful promises made at the conference by both BT and North Yorkshire County Council was, for anyone wanting a realistic broadband connection in this village, a lot of hot air and little else.
MICHAEL TUCKER Baldersby, Thirsk
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