Greg has welcomed the announcement by Building Digital UK (BDUK) to give the green light to Goudhurst’s Project A Community Fibre Partnership which will see more than 350 properties offered full fibre connections.

Vouchers have now been issued to eligible households and businesses following a number of discussions between BDUK and Openreach aimed at resolving technical issues with the scheme and ensuring it meets funding criteria.

Constituents in the areas covered by Project A will now have 28 days to respond to submit their voucher to ensure it is validated. Once this has happened, delivery infrastructure will take place over the course of approximately 12 months.

Greg has been in regular contact with Openreach in the run up to the 31 March deadline for scheme to be given approval after constituents raised concerns the deadline would be missed.

Following the announcement that vouchers for Project A have been issued, Greg said: “Today’s announcement will be hugely welcome by many people in Goudhurst and is major step in getting fibre broadband to this part of the constituency.

“I have been in frequent contact with Openreach regarding this programme and I am pleased that they have managed to satisfy all BDUK criteria for it to go ahead.

“It is very important that every eligible household and business returns their voucher for validation, so please check your inbox and even your junk mail folder if you cannot see it.

“However, Project B remains somewhat behind and I have asked Openreach to re-examine the proposal to give it a greater chance of success when the Government’s new Broadband Voucher scheme launches in April and I will continue to work with them and the community to push this forward.”