Fast and dependable broadband to be rolled out to rural enterprise centre

Businesses at a new purpose-built rural enterprise facility are to benefit from fast, reliable broadband connectivity as part of an investment by Craven District Council.

The former waste management depot at Langcliffe Quarry, in Yorkshire Dales National Park, is being redeveloped by Craven District Council.

It will create a hub that will accommodate a cross-section of new, early stage and growing businesses, including co-working space and shared facilities such as training and meeting rooms.

The facility is being funded by the York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Plans are now being explored with the rural broadband network, Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN), to help secure fast, reliable internet connections for the hub.

B4RN, a community benefit society, offers customers a 1,000Mbps fibre to the premise connection, with the option to increase connection speeds as required with a 10Gbs (10,000Mbps) service also available.

In delivering a connection, B4RN is finalising the route to the Enterprise Centre which will include the need to cross the river Ribble and the Settle to Carlisle Railway.

Subject to confirmation of a deliverable route, the council will fund the works required to connect Langcliffe Quarry should tenants wish to subscribe to B4RN.

Councillor Simon Myers, lead member for Enterprising Craven, said: “Making sure the new Enterprise Centre has access to gigabit broadband is key to the centre’s success, so we are delighted to be working with B4RN to enable a choice for businesses.

“B4RN has continued to expand within Craven through the hard work of a series of community led initiatives.

“This expansion by the district council enables more businesses and premises to benefit from gigabit broadband speeds and I hope it will help facilitate more communities to benefit from the opportunities B4RN can provide.”

A spokesman for B4RN added: “We specialise in ‘reaching the hard-to-reach’. As a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society, our volunteers and staff have transformed hundreds of rural businesses over the last decade by connecting them to the gigabit full fibre broadband.

“It’s a level of connectivity which is the envy of the big cities and helps keep jobs and families local.”

Completion of the business units at the Langcliffe Quarry Enterprise Centre is scheduled for May 2022.