HOUSEHOLDERS in the remote centre of the Yorkshire Dales National Park have attained the fastest internet speeds in England.

Volunteers in Cotterdale dug in about three miles of cabling with the support of non-profit community benefit society B4RN using a Government voucher scheme, as well as £10,000 from the national park authority’s Sustainable Development Fund (SDF).

They have installed gigabit full fibre broadband to all 14 homes in the hamlet, which is situated off the A684 in Upper Wensleydale.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak last month attended a switch on ceremony to mark the development.

Cotterdale resident Ruth Rennison said: "My daughters are up and gone to Leeds, but we actually have faster internet here in Cotterdale than they do there. It costs £30 a month, which is a lot cheaper than it used to be, too.

“When the girls lived at home if you wanted to download anything it took hours, whereas now if we want to download something – even a film – it’s finished before you’ve even noticed.

"Simple things like I do a shopping order every week. That could take me an hour to do before, whereas now it takes seconds."

Another resident, David Colley, who served as the project leader for the eight months it took to complete the work, added: “The SDF grant helped us immensely. It was the first big chunk of money, the first big affirmation that this was a project that people could get behind. After that lots of people in the community fell in and invested a thousand pounds here, fifteen hundred pounds there. So it really was the starting point for the money coming in.”

The fibre optic cabling network was led along the roadside of the A684 from the Moorcock Inn in Upper Wensleydale, where it had previously ended, to Thwaite Bridge Farm, before being going north over the fell and into Cotterdale.

Mr Colley said: “It’s a game changer for Cotterdale. It gives reliability of service. The service is not affected by weather as the previous BT service was, as all the cables are dug into the ground. And with no mobile signal here, it allows for wifi calling within the hamlet.

“We’ve been here for three years. I’m a Darlington lad myself. The fibre optic broadband allows me to work from home. It allows me to keep in contact with lots of people very quickly. And anyone that visits us is absolutely amazed by the speed of the access to the internet.”

Mr Colley said landowner Sandra Facer, who farms in Cotterdale, played a "fundamentally important" role in the project by giving permission for cables to be dug in across her farmland.

She said: “I gave wayleave with no questions asked. They could go where they wanted. I would be a right bad ‘un if I hadn’t, wouldn’t I?”

Mr Sunak added: "Cotterdale is one of the most isolated parts of my constituency and yet it now has broadband speed and quality better than many of our cities.

"The volunteers and B4RN have done an excellent job in overcoming geographical isolation and I am delighted that scheme has also been assisted by £47,000 of Government funding – direct to households and businesses – through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme."