A COMMUNITY activist in Ramsbottom is calling on the council to help bring faster broadband speeds to parts of the town.

Dr Falmai Binns is keen to see Bury Council fund extra broadband cabinets which she believes would deliver higher speeds to homes in Affetside and a small area of Hawkshaw and Tottington.

A Government scheme rolled out to make sure homes and businesses can access speeds of at least 2mbps by offering subsidised satellite broadband connection has been criticised by Dr Binns, chairman of Bury Rural Inequalities Forum (BRIF).

She believes that homes and businesses in the areas affected should not have to use satellites to obtain faster connections.

Dr Binns added: “The problem is money and that’s why we’re calling on the council to help fund the extra two cabinets.

“The council seems to be standing off because they are hoping the Government is doing it.

“It’s not happening though and it seems totally unfair that these residents should have to pay thousands to have the same broadband speeds as everyone else in Bury who have it for free.

“Rural parts of Bury seem to be ignored.”

Tony Morgan, North West contract director for BT said: “The Get Digital Faster programme, together with BT’s own commercial roll-out, has already brought fibre broadband within reach of 97.5 per cent of Bury North.

“The roll-out continues and by the end of 2017 more than 99 percent of the area will have access to fibre broadband speeds - one of the highest percentages of coverage in the UK.

“Affetside is not included in our current fibre roll-out plans, however we have had several meetings with the BRIF group and advised them of the other options which could help to improve their broadband speeds, such as community funded fibre cabinets or via the Government subsidised satellite scheme.”

A spokesman for Bury Council said: “Bury Council is playing its part in a Greater Manchester project to make the city region truly digital and maximise growth in our economy.

“The funding available has primarily been used to bring fibre technology to BT Openreach cabinets, thereby bringing faster speeds to our local business communities. The project has also aimed to increase the number of households who can access faster broadband speeds.

“We have tried to balance the need to support local businesses with spreading coverage to domestic properties, but this has to be carried out within the limited funding available.

“The cabinets in Affetside have been fibre enabled under the Greater Manchester project or via BT’s commercial programme. Unfortunately, the geographical distances involved, and the limitations of the technology, mean that this does not deliver the faster speeds that everyone would like. We have been assured, through our GM partnership and with BT, that work is being undertaken to develop technical solutions that may increase speeds for premises connected to fibre enabled cabinets.

“We continue to support the residents of Affetside in securing faster speeds. Our officers are examining a range of possible solutions, and we will continue to lobby our service providers to invest in the technology that will make this available for our rural communities.”