Just a quick update on the status of the “Two Gates Lane/Bellingdon” Ultrafast community project (not to be confused with the “Cholesbury/The Lee/Asheridge etc” project that you may have seen discussed on the Grapevine.
If you have not yet PLEDGED your voucher please do so ASAP – time is running out! Instructions on how to pledge (with pictures) are here.
Once you’ve pledged you should receive an email from gigabit.vouchers@notifications.service.gov.uk to CONFIRM your voucher. This locks in the funding and is VITAL. There are instructions (with pictures) on how to do this here.
If you have pledged and confirmed your voucher, thank you, there’s nothing more for you to do at the moment. Please don’t pledge again if you’ve already done it – duplicates are deleted.
Even if you’re happy with your broadband speeds, please spare a thought for your neighbours who might not have as good a connection as you and/or consider the value that ultrafast broadband might add to your property.
Some background information
After 6 months of back and forth, for which we have Tony Orr’s unending patience to thank, the project was initially costed, from afar, by Openreach, on a certain number of properties – a good number of which were either non-existent or duplicated.
This led to an extremely high initial cost for the project. Subsequently Openreach removed a number of the properties from the project scope, but did not have time to re-cost the project before the funding window ends – 31st March.
This leaves us in a situation where we need everybody who can sign up to do so. The additional funding we were hoping for from Bucks council has all been allocated, and the pot is empty.
The bottom line is, we are currently over £50,000 short, more if you count those who have pledged but not confirmed their vouchers.
So please, pledge and/or confirm your voucher as soon as you can. It could just make the difference.
Step by step instructions on how to confirm your voucher
The Two Gates Lane/Bellingdon Broadband Upgrade project is going well, we just need a few more households/businesses to sign up to make it happen.
Although we haven’t quite reached the threshold yet, in order to lock in the funding in anticipation of reaching enough vouchers, those that have signed up should be receiving an email from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to confirm their voucher. Please check your spam/junk folder if you haven’t received this. The email address that the email will come from is:
This form is very simple to fill in and “locks in” your voucher to our project.
The email should look something like this:
Clicking the link in blue takes you to this webpage to confirm whether you are applying as a resident, sole trader or business (please sign up as a sole trader or business if you can):
If you’re applying as a “resident”, please tick the appropriate boxes and submit your application. You’ll receive a confirmation email.
If you’re applying as a “business” or “sole trader” (self employed) you will be asked to provide evidence:
Please upload the evidence where indicated then fill in the following drop-down fields (this is for a sole trader and may vary for a business application), then click submit:
You should receive a confirmation email from DCMS/Openreach and that’s it!
Thank you so much if you’ve got this far – we know its been a bit of a long-winded process with lots of form filling. Fingers crossed we’ll all have a whizzy new broadband connection soon.
Please do encourage any neighbours who haven’t already signed up/pledged their voucher to do so: https://bit.ly/3aT7jEk
A fantastic start to the project with over 30% of the project cost pledged already!
We’re aware of an issue with the postcode for Bloomfield Cottages not being recognised by the Openreach site. As Bloomfield represents a significant portion of the houses included in the project we’re working with Openreach to work out what is going on.
If you haven’t yet signed up, the link is below.
If you’re having trouble navigating the signup process please see our step by step guide below: “How to Pledge”.
There will be a separate project for Asheridge to follow shortly.
HOW TO PLEDGE
Go to https://www.openreach.com/connectmycommunity
When you get to the box below tick Yes
Enter your postcode details to confirm your eligibility and tick the “I’m not a robot” box. It may ask you to select squares with buses/traffic lights or parking meters in. Then click the green button with the magnifying glass:
You should now be able to see the current project status:
Please click the green button that says “Pledge for Two Gates Lane Ultrafast Community Project”
Fill in your details as either a business (if you run one from home, including self employed, use company number or unique tax reference [UTR] when prompted) or household.
If you get a message about extra funding please tick yes – this is really important and may be the difference between us being able to proceed and not.
Then submit the application. You’ll receive an email confirmation.
Finally thank you – we know this process has been a bit convoluted but we’re working within the parameters set for us. If you could email us on contact@bellingdon.com to confirm that you have pledged your voucher that would be great 🙂
Many Bellingdon residents have expressed an interest in signing up for Gigabit/Full Fibre/Ultrafast Broadband. Tony Orr and Hugh Griffiths have been spearheading the project, and have agreed the project parameters with Openreach who will be carrying out the required works, if we can get enough vouchers pledged under the government’s Rural Gigabit Broadband Scheme.
So that we can get the project underway, please could you now sign up on the voucher pledging website (essentially this tells Openreach they have the necessary funds from the government). Details below.
You’ll be able to see how near we are to reaching the target amount once you’ve pledged your voucher.
Please tick the box about additional funding, if it appears on your form.
If you run a business from home (we believe this also includes the self employed – give your Unique Tax Reference where it says Company number), PLEASE sign up as a business. There is additional funding available for businesses.
The project WILL NOT PROCEED until we reach 100% of the target so please encourage neighbours to sign up too.
There is a relatively short window in which to pledge the required number of vouchers so please sign up as soon as possible.
There is a separate project for Asheridge to follow, please get in touch if you’re interested in finding out more.
*”Fibre to the premises” which is not to be confused with “fibre to the cabinet” – this essentially means that the old copper wire that comes into your house is replaced with a fibre optic cable that can increase your broadband speed.
