Full fibre broadband boost for remote Worcestershire day care centre

 
Jacks Place, in the village of Birtsmorton, provides a caring and supportive environment for adults with a range of needs, including people with learning disabilities and mental health issues.

Due to their remote location, a 16-acre small holding on a working farm in Worcestershire, they’ve previously been without internet access at the centre.

But after hearing about what could be possible with a fast broadband connection, Worcestershire County Council got in touch with Openreach, and asked for help.

Three months later, and Jacks Place now has some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds available anywhere in the UK, and they join 120,000 homes and businesses across Worcestershire already benefitting from Openreach’s work.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member with Responsibility for the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, said; “We recognised that broadband was essential to enable Jacks Place to access vital services and raise their online profile, which up until now has been impossible due to their rural location. I’m really pleased that with our support this worthwhile charity has the full internet access they need to continue to improve people’s lives.” 

Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire commented: “Jacks Place is an amazing venture and I am heartened to learn that it is now able to do so much more with a proper internet connection going live this month.

“Fast internet is essential for everyone these days and I am pleased to see Worcestershire County Council now connecting the more difficult-to-reach areas in my constituency.

“More and more communities are now getting fast internet speeds to help them to get online and I am confident that we’ll be celebrating more connection events like this in the near future.”

James Gummery, Openreach’s fibre specialist who led the network build, said: “A huge amount of work has taken place to make full fibre available to Jacks Place. It’s in an extremely remote location and was a fairly complex network build, but we were determined to do our best to help as much as possible. They do great work at the centre and offer vital indoor and outdoor support services to adults with learning difficulties and mental health issues.”

Hannah James, Chief Executive for Jack’s Place added: “Firstly, can I thank  Worcestershire County Council and Openreach for all the hard work that they have put into getting Jacks Place access to the internet.
It has been a massive help to the running of the business, and our visitors are thrilled to be able to watch TV, particularly education and documentary programs. It also offers us a safer environment as we are now able to contact the emergency services in the event of an emergency.”

Worcestershire County Council continues to prioritise investment in digital infrastructure to provide gigabit capable broadband connectivity to 90% of our homes and businesses in Worcestershire by 2027, support improvements in mobile telecommunications and continue to explore leading edge digital technologies, such as 5G, for the benefit of the County.

Openreach has more than 3,500 engineers working across the West Midlands, including most communities in Worcestershire.

For further information, visit the Digital Connectivity Worcestershire pages of the County Council website.