Fast internet connection  is becoming increasingly important these days for business, shopping, entertainment, education and government services.  This importance will grow in the future when we will use  faster internet for next generation applications such as telemedicine and HD videoconferencing for business, education, social networking and HD 3D for internet platform television and gaming. Low latency (delay) will be particularly important for telemedicine.

For background information to broadband in the Eden context, please click here. Described as the  “fourth utility”, our Government has promised fast broadband provision of at least 2 Mbps symmetrical (upload and download) for everybody in the UK who wants it by 2012. Maximum upload speed doesn’t currently exceed .5 Mbps in our Parish. Some homes in Bolton and King’s Meaburn are suffering less than .5 Mbps download speed!

There is concern that providers will concentrate on urban deployment or at best just cherry-pick the easier rural homes and ignore those that are harder to reach perpetuating the broadband gap in microcosm.

It is therefore perceived necessary for community broadband groups to serve as an interface between providers, consumers and funding bodies to try to deliver the best digital services to every home and business in our communities that want them. The Government is stimulating the drive for better rural services. Economy of scale is considered important. Crosby Ravensworth is cooperating with other communities that receive the Leith-Lyvennet Newsletter - Sleagill, Newby, Morland, Bolton, Cliburn, Great Strickland and Thrimby - known as the Leith-Lyvennet Broadband Group (LLBG). Our Chair is Freddy Markham of Morland, our Secretary is Lance Greenhalgh of Cliburn. The LLBG was established as an advisory group to Parish Councils and Meetings. King’s Meaburn and Little Strickland may join us if they wish.

On February 16th, a meeting of the Leith-Lyvennet Parishes was held at Morland Village Hall. About 100 people attended, heard presentations and participated in a question and answer session and a live survey facilitated by a plebiscite machine kindly loaned to us by Cumbria County Council.  The enthusiastic interest and survey results (view here) encouraged the Leith-Lyvennet Broadband Group to form a Community Interest Company  to deliver digital services named Eden Valley Digital (EVD). Eden Valley Digital is answerable to our Parish Councils and will be served by Broadband Champions drawn from the participating communities.  Community coffers in each participating community will receive sixty-five percent of the returns from that community that are surplus to the establishment and operating costs of the network. The remaining thirty-five percent of net operating profits will be retained to pay for future upgrades or unforseen exegencies. The funds dispersed to the Parish Councils and Meetings will be for spending as they see fit alongside their normal precept.

Big Society

Our MP for Penrith and the Border Rory Stewart has been working hard to improve broadband in Eden. Our status as part of The Eden Big Society Vanguard Area could help us improve the speed of our internet through a technical pilot project partially funded by Broadband Development UK, a branch of the Civil Service dedicated to the development of broadband networks. Our pilot project is expected to serve approximately 800 premises including our schools and public buildings and will receive government assistance of guidance and money in return for knowledge imparted that will help deployment in other rural communities. We may get help because, as path-finders, we will likely test out a mixture of solutions, there will be an element of experimentation and we have promised to share what we learn throughout the process- not just about the technology, but through the whole process from the beginning, through completion and ongoing management and deployment of support services. Cumbria County Council will help Cumbria by separately subsidising the provision of internet backhaul (the capacity to upload data from our communities back onto the internet) this will be assisted by EU grant funding.

Quality Control Processes

The East Cumbria Community Broadband Group Forum (ECCBGF) is an advisory body that meets regularly to help disseminate information to broadband groups and to guide practice through a process of peer review. ECCBGF is composed of up to two members of each community broadband group and is chaired by Libby Bateman, the Upper Eden Community Planning Officer.

Click here for ECCBGF terms of reference.

The Procurement Process

As there are public funds involved in the procurement of broadband provision for our communities we are trying to proceed with all due diligence.

1) The Expression of Interest

At the end of March our group submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) document to BDUK  that stated our earnest intent to deliver a community broadband pilot project. At this stage we had to distance ourselves from NextGenUs as they constitute a potential provider and would warrant equal treatment with other potential providers in a public procurement process.

This EOI was welcomed, but there were concerns raised by some members of ECCBGF about the change of name from LLBG to EVD. The concern arose from a sense that the name implied a broader geographical remit than the territory that our group actually represented. Though it could be seen to include territories that are not in our bailiwick, it was explained that the name was selected for its inclusivity - all of our participant communities are in the Eden Valley District, but not all of them are near the river Leith or Lyvennet. We’re proud of being in The Eden Valley and we’re likely to be sharing our experiences with other groups in Eden and beyond.

2) Registration of Eden Valley Digital

Eden Valley Digital is now officially registered as  Community Interest Company No.7626168. To view EVD website please click www.edenvalleydigital.com

Parish Councillor Charles Paxton is your community broadband champion.

Please call Charles on 715270  to discuss your broadband situation.

Charles now recommends that as many residents as possible register their interest in  joining a community broadband Technical Pilot project with Eden Valley Digital (EVD) to bring fast, reliable and future-proof service to our community.

How Do I get To Grips With The Jargon?

There's a good guide to jargon here

“How Fast Is My Current Service?”

This is a good speed tester to try on your computer. There are plenty of others available. Notice how much smaller your upload number is?

“What are bits and bytes anyway? “

Computer storage is usually measured in bytes and data transfer in bits. This can confuse people. A bit is 8 times smaller than a byte.

In terms of data storage volume transmitted, one megabit per second = 125 kilobytes per second.

“How fast is good these days?”

The Govt. would like everyone to have access to superfast broadband if possible,  

“We already have fast broadband, don’t we?”

No, not really. This is the problem. Many, but not all of us have service that is adequate for emailing and surfing the net today -  but it’s not nearly fast enough for Next Generation Applications. As more people go online our service slows down. So why do we need anything faster? Find out by clicking here

“Can we get Next Generation Access broadband in our area? “ Hopefully soon, see our progress timeline

For the broader Cumbrian broadband context

Please see: Rory Stewart MP for Penrith and the Border’s broadband Page  and broadbandcumbria.com

Charles Paxton lives with his wife Kimberly in Maulds Meaburn.  He is a new Parish Councillor for Crosby Ravensworth Parish.  Charles runs his own website design business under the name The Webcat.  Charles is the Broadband Champion for Maulds Meaburn and is now a Director of EVD.

He was invited to be Broadband Champion by Rory Stewart’s office and confirmed as a Director  of Eden Valley Digital by his Parish. Charles has attended conferences, meetings and workshops in that capacity, with Crosby Ravensworth Parish Council support. He received Big Society Grant Funding from December 2010 through March 2011.