COUNCILLORS have agreed to prioritise communities not included in phase one of BT’s superfast fibre optic broadband rollout plan.

This could mean that rural villages that have not yet been fully covered by the programme and have been identified by committee members could be moved to the top of the list for phase two of the rollout programme.

Members of South Gloucestershire Council’s resources sub-committee agreed unanimously that Oldbury-on-Severn, Aust, Elberton, Tytherington, Olveston, Pilning and Severn Beach, Horton, Wickwar, Dyrham and Hinton, Acton Turville, Marshfield, Tortworth, Bitton and Easter Compton should be prioritised as part of the next phase of the rollout of superfast broadband.

Andrew Watkins, from Elberton, has been a long-term campaigner to get the broadband scheme rolled out to the more rural areas in South Gloucestershire and has visited the then broadband minister Ed Vaizey to raise the issue.

He welcomed the recommendations agreed by the committee but was sceptical that the recommendations may not be adhered to.

“I welcome the recommendations that committee members did agree on - at long last they realise that the whole project has been found wanting.

“The committee should start questioning what they’re being told and start to question some of the information that they’re told rather than taking it at face value.

“The original promises made when the broadband scheme was first introduced were to bring broadband to communities with little or no broadband and that has not happened.

“Members also need to make sure that in areas where money has been spent on improving the broadband, like Olveston and where it has not worked that BT doesn’t get paid twice to as part of this next phase.”

Members of the Council’s resources sub-committee agreed that any future contracts need to be made more transparent so that the public will have a better understanding of what BT are doing.

Cllr Sue Hope (Lib Dem, Cotswold Edge), who drafted the proposals, said: “We have secured promises from the Council to work with BT to improve communication with residents and to investigate alternatives schemes and technology so that rural areas are not entirely dependent on BT’s plans.

“We have also asked the Council to lobby government to ensure that future public contracts of this kind are more transparent, so that residents know what is happening with their services.

“This is good news for rural residents in my ward and across South Gloucestershire. I will be keeping a close eye on this issue to ensure that the Council lives up to their commitments to local people.”