Rural residents encouraged to back plans for better broadband

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan is urging rural residents of her constituency to back Project Gigabit plans and consider registering interest in Freedom Fibre, in order to boost the chance of local investment.

This comes after a visit on the MP’s Summer Tour to Whixall, at a well-attended local meeting where the issue of poor mobile and broadband signal came up repeatedly with residents of the village and surrounding countryside.

The MP has also since met again with Freedom Fibre to discuss the project and ways to register interest.

The UK Government funded Project Gigabit has already been rolled out in North Shropshire, with an aim to deliver full-fibre connectivity to thousands of hard-to-reach homes and businesses.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire said: “I live in a very rural part of North Shropshire myself and know exactly how frustrating it is to lack the broadband signal you need. Project Gigabit is a positive step to addressing the problem, and I would encourage residents to consider registering their interest with connected schemes like Freedom Fibre so the demand for investment is made clear.

“At my recent Summer Tour stop in Whixall, the top issue raised was the poor quality of broadband and mobile signal. I would particularly encourage people who live in Whixall and areas like it to sign up so that we can try and tackle this problem head on.”

Ian Mercer, Chair of Whixall Parish Council added: “Far too many residents in parts of rural Shropshire like ours can’t access the decent broadband and mobile signal they need. Registering your interest with Freedom Fibre is a really good way to make sure they know that there is demand for the scheme in our area, and increases our chances of getting investment in our local services.”

Residents are able to register their interest in Freedom Fibre for free at the link here.