Are you getting superfast broadband?
Essex County Council is running a public consultation during August 2017 to create an updated map of superfast broadband availability in the county. The council will publish an online map showing all Essex premises and their current classification (superfast broadband available or planned/ superfast broadband under review/ no superfast broadband available). Superfast broadband is now defined as a connection offering at least 30Mb download speeds most of the time. When the consultation launches on Monday 31st July, residents and businesses are invited to check their broadband status on the interactive State Aid map available at: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext.
The Superfast Essex programme team at Essex County Council would like to hear your feedback on the broadband status allocated to your address. This includes feedback confirming the broadband status shown on the map is correct as well as feedback from anyone who disagrees with their current broadband status. Respondents will be required to provide some evidence to back up any requests to change the status of an address. Details about the type of evidence required and instructions about how to obtain this will be detailed in the public consultation feedback form. Full details about the consultation, including the link to respond, will be available on the same ‘What’s happening next?’ page of the Superfast Essex website: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext with the interactive State Aid map. Please note the map being consulted on will be used to decide whether properties are eligible for public subsidy in the future. This is different to the interactive rollout map which is separate to this consultation. The outcome of this consultation will form the basis for directing future investment by Essex County Council to improve broadband access, with the ambition to ensure everyone in the county has a superfast connection by 2020 at the latest.
Feedback on the consultation must only be submitted via the online public consultation feedback form available on the ‘What’s happening next?’ page at: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext. Residents in areas with poor connectivity are encouraged to take the time to visit libraries or use workplace computers to complete their feedback, as the team would like to hear from them in particular. Unfortunately, due to the volume of responses expected and the need to process them quickly, Superfast Essex is unable to offer the option of hard copy correspondence. If you agree with the status of your property as shown on the map (e.g. no superfast broadband available), you do not need to take any further action, however we would welcome your feedback via the public consultation form to confirm the current status shown on the map is correct.
