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Rural broadband project Fibre GarDen nabs even more money

Things are looking up for Fibre GarDen, the rural broadband project based in the Yorkshire Dales. 

Money from the SIB Group (Social Investment Business) has seen Fibre GarDen’s coffers swell to £435,000 bringing it ever closer to its target of £600,000 so it can start digging. 

Soon Fibre GarDen will launch a share offer which will give locals the opportunity to invest in the project Kickstarter-style and ensure that superfast fibre-based broadband rolls out to their doorsteps. 

An idyllic view of the view to the west of Dentdale, soon to be populated by shiny new fibre broadband

Read Recombu Digital’s guide to Fibre GarDenProject leader Tony Roberts says in a blog post that the extra money now equates to £200 per household across the two dales. 

Once the work is complete, the 525 residents and 159 businesses can expect to enjoy download speeds of at least 30Mbps by 2014, with the first homes expected to get fibre by Christmas 2013

Money so far has come from Defra, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Social Development Fund and local controbutions. The two Yorkshire Dales of Gardale and Dentdale – where the ‘GarDen’ part of the name comes from – are on the border of a national park and are located in an area where rollout from the likes of BT and Virgin Media would be unlikely.

Like Lancashire’s B4RN, Fibre GarDen is a DIY project that aims to deliver an FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) broadband network, future-proofing local homes and businesses with dependable fibre connections. 

Image: walkinguphills/Flickr

 

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