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European battle for broadband

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Published Date: 25 April 2009
ISLANDERS in Barra who have been campaigning for better broadband services have taken their fight to Europe.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) announced last year that publicly funded broadband access was being made available to residents on Barra.

But islanders claim the money would be better spent upgrading telephone exchanges for BT to provide cheaper and faster internet services.

They have already sent 1,000 letters of complaint and a 400-name petition to HIE, MPs, the Office of Fair Trading and the Scottish Government.





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  • Last Updated: 24 April 2009 9:54 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Broadband
 
1

drunken proffet,

Tassy 25/04/2009 07:47:30
Well Tassy has satellite broadband at a reasonable price being introduced this year. Something like $49.50 Aussi dollars for a 256kbps connection and around 4GB download allowance. But the situation is different, Tasmania has a larger population than Barra and those connections are only for folk who live outside the normal telephone connections. The calculation for acceptance to the scheme is pretty scientific so I will not include it.
2

Boy Wonder,

25/04/2009 09:54:44
FREE BROADBAND NOW!!!!
3

Peter Colledge,

Barra 30/04/2009 18:54:58
Because the issue is now in Europe it is beyond local politician's remit, a very good thing in many people's opinion here. I sincerely hope Europe will respond positively. BT is the answer not Connected Communities.
4

Neil the postman,

Isle of Barra 30/04/2009 19:49:10
Don’t you think it is a sad reflection on the political system in this country that we have to travel all the way to Brussels to be heard locally?

Having exhausted all avenues in Scotland and getting treated contemptuously by the political process here, our community are now at the European Parliament on this issue. Basically a small community in the Outer Hebrides has managed to get all the way to the European Parliament with no support from our elected “representatives” (apart from our MP Angus Brendan MacNeil) and is essentially representing itself here.

The Scottish Government presented a letter in defence of ConCom/HIE to the Committee on Petitions, which we responded to refuting their claims. The Committee on Petitions seem to agree with us, as they have just asked the Scottish Government for "further clarification on the Connected Communities Initiative and the choice of the wireless option for broadband internet."

In other words they haven’t accepted their letter and are investigating this matter further. The HIE procurement "investigation", where an unelected quango were allowed to rail-road through the ConCom service against our wishes, is particularly damning of our elected "representatives".

The HIE "decision" to continue with ConCom instead of proceeding with the procurement we requested was primarily based on their service being provided "significantly faster". It’s almost May 2009 and there are areas here on Barra still without any kind of broadband. We should have had broadband through our exchange in 2005 as part of the UK Government initiative but were excluded from this because ConCom was going to provide for us. It hasn't. I have seen tectonic plates move quicker than this initiative.
5

Neil the postman,

Isle of Barra 30/04/2009 19:52:30
Northbay exchange would have been upgraded last autumn had they listened to our procurement request, so they actually denied us the better service last year. The fact they ignored our petition stating a willingness to wait for the procurement to occur is disgraceful and shows a complete disregard for the democratic process. And sadly this dismissive attitude was tolerated by the Scottish Government.

You couldn't get a better example of public opinion (and common sense) being ignored by bureaucratic intransigence than on this issue, and it happened under the auspices of the current SNP Government. They have treated us with contempt. It seems that public sector pride takes precedence over public interest when public money has been misspent, and that is shameful.

This issue isn’t just about ensuring we get a decent Internet service; it is about giving a voice to ordinary people who have been ignored by a political process unwilling to admit its mistakes.

Questions have to be asked as to why the Scottish Government so stubbornly proceeded with ConCom here on Barra when there was clearly a better option available. The European Parliament is anyway. The way that public opinion was ignored by an unelected quango, sadly with the backing of the Scottish Government is shameful. Is HIE’s pride worth more than constituents votes? Is it worth more than paying back European funding?

This could end up at the Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament with the possibility of European funding having to be repaid if it is deemed to have been misspent. MEP’s have already mentioned this. The consultancy fees alone for ConCom now exceed the amount it would have required to upgrade these 21 exchanges in 2005, and if that isn’t misspending public funds then I’ll make a personal contribution to Fred Goodwin’s pension fund!

6

308,

The wild, wild west 30/04/2009 21:27:30
The whole connected communities fiasco has been a classic example of what happens when councils and quangos who do not understand the technology they are dealing with listen to snake oil salesmen. This has cost the taxpayer a very large sum of money. Both Western Isles council and HIE stubbornly refuse to admit that there is a problem, ignoring the democratic process whilst so doing.
Nice to see that Western Isles council have learned nothing since BCCI.
7

John the barman ,

Isle of Barra 01/05/2009 11:10:05
Thanks Neil the postman for your efforts for democracy and common sense. You are a young man. I long ago despaired of local democracy. Lack of response has worn me down. I've paid my Council Tax since it started but don't even vote now.
8

Eoligarry,

01/05/2009 12:16:28
The Connected Communities project makes no financial and no medium to long term technical sense, what has really frustrated the community in Northbay is the arrogance and dictator like indifference shown to the community by HIE and the Scottish Government. They have supplied no justification as to why they are continuing to spend public funds on a white elephant rather than divert funds to an overwhelmingly supported cheaper viable alternative. The only logical reason is to save face and HIE have all but admitted this in internal minutes of meeting.

Ultimately HIE and the Scottish Government have chosen their own self serving interests rather than those of the community they profess to serve. This situation needs to be addressed and it is disappointing not to mention worrying that the community need to bring their case before the European Parliament before our concerns are acknowledged.

 

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