FRUSTRATED residents and businesses in a South Gloucestershire village have united to voice their anger over being denied a decent internet service.

Upgrades to fibre optic broadband have been taking place across South Gloucestershire for a number of years but Elberton has repeatedly missed out.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is responsible for deciding which areas receive the high speed broadband, and businesses and residents met on Wednesday to voice their frustration.

The owner of Home Leisure Direct, Andy Beresford, signed a lease to move into his premises in Elberton in 2011 and said that at the time the council assured him that the broadband connection would be upgraded soon.

Andy, 47, told the Gazette: “It is scandalous that we have had to wait almost five years now. I have 30 staff members and 0.8mb broadband download speed to try to run my business. I have considered moving elsewhere, but I’m still desperately optimistic they will deliver their promise and sort it.”

In July SGC announced that Elberton was one of the next areas to receive superfast broadband as part of the council’s programme with BT, but did not give a timescale for the work.

Businesses once based in Elberton have been forced to relocate due to the slow broadband, including Crossover Technologies, a software provider which moved to Bradley Stoke, and design company Avon Displays Ltd which moved to Thornbury.

Elberton residents said the dire internet speeds meant they couldn’t use services such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer and their children were unable to do online homework tasks.

Resident Andrew Watkins, who needs a reliable internet connection for his job a self-employed IT support worker, said: “The Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme has been a dismal failure in South Gloucestershire.

“In January 2013 the council guaranteed a minimum of 2mbps broadband speeds by 2015 to 100 per cent of residents in South Gloucestershire.”

However, SGC said Elberton was not part of phase one of the rollout which was due to be completed by 2015, and was only added to phase two of the scheme which has a target date of the end of 2017.

Andrew, 52, also said that SGC organised expensive surveys by independent consultants to decide which areas were a priority for broadband upgrades but wouldn’t explain to him how the decisions were reached. “We are sick of waiting,” he added. “They have ignored our plight and let so many people down.”

A spokeswoman for the council said: “We are working closely with BT who are currently carrying out the necessary surveying and planning work.

“Once this work is complete we will be contacting residents and businesses to let them know so that they will be able to take advantage of the broadband rollout.”