Broadband survey

You may have noticed in the media that the Suffolk Better Broadband Programme is gathering pace, and we hope to start work on improving services with Suffolk in Autumn this year. Before we start work, we have to go through a public procurement process to select a provider to develop the Suffolk network.

In order to make this contract as attractive as possible to bidders, as well as to provide evidence to use as leverage during negotiations, we are asking households to register their demand for broadband. This will make our case as strong as possible. Not only will this aid the procurement process, but it will also inform us of where the areas of particular need exist across Suffolk.

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete, and can be found at www.suffolk.gov.uk/broadband. If you could use your channels to promote this as much as possible, it would be fantastic. Ideally we want to get the message to all households in all parishes, that their input via this survey will be critical to improving broadband in Suffolk.

We have also produced a hard copy of this survey. The idea here is that any willing volunteers can distribute and collect responses, catering for those who do not have access to the online version. In addition to these we plan to distribute hard copies via libraries, and brief library staff on the online process, to make it as accessible as possible to all.

Responses are really needed in time to inform our planning, which means to end of March is when we will need to start reviewing responses.

A lot of background information to the programme, including a summary of our plan, monthly newsletters, and a FAQ page also appears on www.suffolk.gov.uk/broadband

For additional information, please contact jonathan.chown@suffolk.gov.uk

Lackford Parish Council Minutes

The approved minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting and the AGM of the Council held at Lackford Church on Monday, 09 May 2011 at 7:30 p.m. together with the draft minutes of the Council meeting held on Monday, 10 October 2011 are published in the following PDF files: Minutes 2011-05-09 – 001 draft JFS   Minutes 2011-10-10 – 001 draft JFS

Message from the Suffolk police

Suffolk Police is continuing to support the Metropolitan Police restore peace to the capital by sending further officers to London. A number will be travelling this afternoon and overnight to help arrest, identify or deter people from rioting and looting. Police would like to dispel fictitious and malicious rumours which are circulating, particularly on social networking sites about disorder on the streets of Suffolk.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Marshall said: “We would like to inform residents of Suffolk that there is no unrest here in the county. We understand how distressing these rumours must be to residents of Suffolk and can assure people there is no substance in them.” Despite the assistance being sent to London, Suffolk Police has a significant number of resources still on duty and a high-visibility presence will continue throughout the day and night to deter any disorder as well asoffering reassurance to residents who are worried by the events unfolding in the capital.

ACC Marshall added: “We are working hard to ensure the county remains safe and we have sufficient-trained police officers on duty to deal with any situation should it arise.”

Suffolk Police understands that business owners may be feeling concerned following the recent events in London and are subsequently issuing advice. Retailers should conduct regular checks outside their building for any suspicious activity, identify any areas of their property which are vulnerable to forced entry and ensure CCTV is fully-operational.

As a precautionary measure additional officers and PCSOs will patrolling main towns to provide high-visibility reassurance patrols. They will be visiting businesses, community venues and other places where people gather to engage with local people and provide advice and guidance.

Police in Suffolk are reiterating the words of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin and would urge parents to be aware of and ask their children where they are and who they are with.

If anyone has information about any possible disorder they can contact Suffolk Police on 01473 613745 or in an emergency call 999.

Or

Please use the following link to pass any useful information to Suffolk Police about this incident.

http://www.suffolk.police.uk/News+And+Appeals/Report+Information
+To+The+Police/Tell+The+Police.htm

DO NOT USE THIS LINK IN AN EMERGENCY OR IN A SITUATION THAT REQUIRES AN IMMEDIATE POLICE RESPONSE WHEN YOU SHOULD RING 999.

Faster internet

Part of the governments latest strategy with BT and the Broadband Britain project is to connect the rural parts of the UK, the project BT21CN is being rolled out as we speak.  It may surprise many that there are only 6,000 business in the UK with over 250 employees but there are 4.8 million who employ less that 250. Due to the recent crisis the push has been to make smaller businesses more competitive etc etc and connectivity is seen as one of the top three priorities (I think it is probably easier than sorting out the banks).

So what has happened is that the government has forced BT to open up the ‘pole network’ to other providers such as VirginMedia – so Virgin Media can now use the BT poles to run fibre optic cables.. At last competition! This has forced BT to look at different areas because until recently VirginMedia etc had no way of getting to Lackford without digging up the trenches which of course is very expensive.  The bizarre part is that they are likely to contract the work to BT Openreach who deal with the physical
connectivity.

Also, there is a very large tender to deliver the fibre network using the existing underground cable routes.

The reason that the project may head our way quicker is because of the competition and the ‘funding’ provided by government or in crude terms if BT don’t do it then they will be forced to open it up even more.

In addition the switching equipment in the exchange would be upgraded, so with all the advances in contention ratio technology Lackford would get better use of the available bandwidth.

The cabling between the exchange and the village is also very old and easily affected by bad weather, I am sure everyone in Lackford has noticed this after a storm.

So how do we get the faster speeds?

1. Visit the BT website at http://bit.ly/qFBOAN and register your interest. Even if you have done this before – do it again.
2. Contact your current internet service provider (ISP) and ask them how you get faster internet
3. Tell friends and neighbors in Lackford or connected to the Culford exchange) to register and contact their ISP – spread the word.

If you work from home, even if it is occasional, then make sure you tell your ISP and BT that your livelyhood depends on your internet connection.

(thanks to AStevens for the information)

Barn dance on July 16th

There will be a Barn Dance from 8pm to 11pm on Saturday 16 July at Bunkers Barn, which is on the road from Lackford to Cavenham. The evening will start and end with a Disco from 7pm to 8pm and then again 11 pm till midnight.

Funds raised will go towards a charity which supports orphans in Kenya – Focus on Africa – and Lackford Church.

Ticket Price is £20 [£10 for under 18’s] which includes food – there will be a licensed bar, raffle and various fun things.

For ticket sales, please contact Gill on 07971 846808 or via email at gill@fortis-aviation.com

Draft Parish Council Minutes

The draft minutes of the March Parish Council Meeting held at Lackford Church on Monday, 14 March at 730 p.m. are published in the following PDF file: Minutes 2011-03-14 – 001 draft JFS

Draft Parish Council Minutes

The draft minutes of the December Parish Council Meeting held at Lackford Church on Monday, 13 December 2010 at 730 p.m. are published in the following PDF file: Minutes 2010-12-13 – 001 draft JFS

Parish Council Minutes and Agenda

The draft minutes of the October Parish Council Meeting and the Agenda for the Council Meeting to be held at Lackford Church on Monday, 13 December 2010 at 730 p.m. are published in the following PDF files:Minutes 2010-10-11 – 001 draft JFS Councillors notice & Agenda 2010-12-13 – 001

Parish Council Minutes and Agenda

The approved minutes of the March Parish Council Meeting and the Annual Parish and the Annual General Meeting of the Council held in May, together with the Notice and Agenda for the Council Meeting to be held at Lackford Church on Monday, 11 October 2010 at 730 p.m. are published in the following PDF files:
Minutes 2010-03-01 – 001 draft JFS Minutes 2010-05-10 – 001 draft JFS Councillors notice & Agenda 2010-10-11- 001

Help Lackford get faster internet

*** Act now – register on http://www.erebusonline.org.uk/

The regional development agency EEDA is coordinating a campaign to get faster broadband for East Anglia.   The campaign is called EREBUS.

As you may know, the Government has proposed a levy on all phone users to pay for the upgrading of Broadband.  Although everyone will pay, there is no guarantee that everyone will benefit, and it is possible that the main beneficiaries will be people who will get their existing FAST connections upgraded to ULTRAFAST because they live in places where it is relatively cheap and easy to do so.  To get our SLOW connections upgraded (even to FAST!) we need to demonstrate that there is demand.  The EREBUS project is about creating a register of people who want (need!) a better Broadband connection.

Please register at the EREBUS website http://www.erebusonline.org.uk/.  As a minimum you need to enter your name, email and postcode.  Multiple users at any address can register.  If you wish, you can add a reason for wanting faster Broadband such as:

(Home user) I would like faster broadband to provide me with more responsive surfing of the internet.  It would also me to use iPlayer – and other video download services – which is currently almost impossible.  Furthermore Audio download times would be reduced to a more acceptable level.

(Business user) I would like faster broadband to allow me to upload and download large datafiles attached to email messages more quickly and reliably.  It would also me to search and download from the internet essential information that is relevant to my business much more quickly.

(For reference, standard definition video streaming for things like the BBC iPlayer, 4OD or Sky Player require about a 2Mb connection for decent quality that does not stutter. The same goes for many of the new internet learning services. The new XBox 360 Zune High Definition video service requires at least a 4Mb internet connection to work. Other high definition services being trialed need even more. By chosing to live outside of a big city we are being prevented from using many of these new services. Please reply to this message and tell us what speed you get today (you can check your speed at http://www.speedtest.net/ or http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/). Also reply and let us know that you have registered. Added by Bov)

Please use, or customise, these quotes to suit your requirements.  Do register on EREBUS – it may help us to get the Broadband service that we need.