Rural residents and businesses are being asked to support a campaign - to improve broadband access in Carlisle - by taking part in a quick online survey.

Lack of access to broadband or poor quality/ speed of service have been highlighted as a top priority. Carlisle Parish Councils Association (CPCA) and Carlisle City Council has launched an online survey to discover which areas are worst affected.

They are urging as many people as possible to complete the five-minute survey. The data will then be used to highlight the areas within the city – rural and urban - which have problems accessing broadband.

The survey is now available on: www.carlisle.gov.uk/broadbandsurvey

Work by the CPCA over the past year has found poor broadband coverage to be one of the major issues in rural north Cumbria. Among the problem areas are places north east of Longtown and Corby Hill, but issues have also been reported in the Stanwix area of Carlisle and in many other locations.

CPCA chairman Ronnie Auld, said:

“This is a priority action area for the Economic Development and Enterprise (EDE) group of Carlisle Partnership, Brampton Economic Partnership and a number of Parish Councils, who recently took part in the workshops organised by our association. We need to tackle this issue, if not people will move away and we will get rural depopulation.”

Talks have already started with BT to see what can be done to help improve coverage.

Cllr Marilyn Bowman, Portfolio holder for Economic Development, added:

“We are working with the CPCA to highlight this problem and urge local residents to take part in the survey. This is valuable research and the data compiled will give us a clearer picture about broadband access within Carlisle. Please spare some time to take part.”                                                         

Ends

Notes to Editors:

• Approximately one third of the population of Carlisle District live in the rural area and rural parishes. There are 34 rural parishes, all represented by the Carlisle Parish Council’s Association.
• Around 34% of businesses in Carlisle District are in the rural area [ref: Business Link].  A high proportion of these are agricultural, but farmers are now being asked to submit their returns on-line which makes a reasonable broadband link essential.