Residents of East Stockwith have taken broadband matters into their own hands. After five years, a community-led project to bring superfast broadband to the Lincolnshire village of East Stockwith and surrounding area has been successful. The first connections went live in June, providing internet speeds of up to 30Mbs.

Parish Councillors and residents have worked together with wireless internet service provider, Quickline Communications, an independent firm specialising in remote rural broadband connections. Of the project, David Forington, Chairman of East Stockwith Parish Council says:

“We have struggled with poor broadband for many years and welcome any initiative that improves the service for the residents of this area.”

Chris Bainborough from Grosvenor House Care Home in East Stockwith is very happy with the new superfast broadband connection. He says: "We are absolutely delighted with our new Quickline installation, now our service speeds is around twenty times faster than our previous service, and it is stable.”

“It also means that developing services such as cloud computing, tele-medicine and other new technologies will be available at Grosvenor House.”

Chairman of West Lindsey District Council's the Prosperous Communities Committee, Cllr. Owen Bierley, said:

“Seeing more West Lindsey villages being connected is fantastic. This high-speed service will mean more freedom to fully utilise online services for residents as well as providing businesses with the means to increase their reach.”

“This latest installation is another example of how rural masts can be used for the benefit of the wider community.”

People in the villages of Laughton, Grayingham, Blyton, Scotton, Pilham, Corringham and surrounding areas will be able to pick up a signal. 

Steve Bolan, Operations Director at Quickline said: “This is a major advancement in local communications which have been stuck in the dark ages, while the rest of the UK has enjoyed being able to access the world online.

“As with many remote parts of the UK, traditional telecoms companies are unable to access these areas as the cost of investment is too high for the number of residents. East Stockwith Parish Council took matters into their own hands and got in touch with us direct and following on from this successful enquiry, we welcome approaches from other parishes in need of better communications.”

Parish councils and businesses can register their interest at www.superfastwestlindsey.co.uk. For further information on Quickline, call 01482 247365.