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WALSALL LEADS WAY IN NEXT GENERATION COMMUNITY NETWORK PLANS - 15 July 2008
Ambitious proposals to revitalise a disadvantaged Walsall estate by setting up the UK’s first high-speed broadband network run by and for the community are gaining momentum.
Internationally recognised experts behind a transformational communications network in the Dutch town of Nuenen outlined their vision for how a scheme could work in Walsall’s Birchills area at a special workshop.
Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC) hosted the event for 50 delegates from community organisations, housing, local authority, health and business sectors to explain how the scheme could work and the benefits it would bring.
The network would give local people access to ‘super-fast’ phone, video and internet services and enable health, education and council departments to deliver better and more services for less. It would use a ‘next generation’ fibre network planned for the town’s new Walsall Gigaport business district and enable locals to benefit from and contribute to the town’s renaissance.
Neunen’s OnsNet or OurNet network belongs to the people and is organised through a co-operative association. OnsNet founder Kees Rovers developed a model for generating very high levels of demand for fibre to the home in areas not generally recognised as commercially viable by traditional operators.
Kees said: “I was extremely pleased to be invited by Dr Peter Cromar from Walsall Regeneration Company to speak at the OurNet for Walsall workshop. I can see many parallels between what we have achieved with OurNet in Nuenen and the possibilities for Birchills and would be delighted if Birchills could become the next OurNet. I fully support this initiative and wish Peter and his team together with my colleagues at the Community Broadband Network every success with this exciting project."
In Nuenen 80 per cent of the local population belong to OnsNet and pay it for their phone, TV and internet services. Costs have been kept down as the aim of the co-operative is to meet the needs of its community rather than maximising the return on investment.
Malcolm Corbett, chief executive officer of Community Broadband Network, which works in partnership with OnsNet, said: “From the level of enthusiasm shown at the workshop and with WRC’s commitment to making it happen, I would be very surprised if progress is not made quite rapidly. Other areas around the country are looking at developing high-speed networks but Walsall is ahead of the game at the moment.”
WRC chairman Ben Reid said: “I think this kind of development, which is designed to start the regeneration of a community, is ideally suited to the co-operative model. In such a model the views of individuals are valued and therefore we avoid the classic error of regeneration of doing things to people rather than shaping the proposal that suits the majority of people in a particular area.”
Dr Peter Cromar, chief executive of WRC, sees the OurNet scheme as complementing the regeneration work already underway to transform the economic base of the town and the wider region.
It has submitted an outline planning application for Walsall Gigaport where a proposed £80 million first phase would comprise a major 40,000 sq ft data centre called Walsall Hub to act as a focus for IT based industries, a 106,000 sq ft Business Incubation Centre with offices and incubation units and the 117,000 sq ft One Gigaport office complex.
Walsall Gigaport will use optical technologies that will enable companies to do business hundreds of times faster than current broadband speeds. The high speed, big band width network and its capabilities is particularly important to finance, media, digital industries and health sectors. WRC believes Birchills should benefit from the communications technology of this new business district and will work with community representatives and key stakeholders to make it a reality.
A ‘next generation’ fibre network would help people to get involved in their community and access health, education and other services, from video conferencing with their family doctor to improving security through monitoring services.
Aftab Nawaz, of Walsall’s Pakistan Muslim Welfare Association, said: “This is a way of using technology to bring people together, to give them access to better education and better services and to engage the ‘hard to reach’ groups in society.
“It is an amazing opportunity to be at the forefront of almost a new revolution in communications. It is important that a wide range of people benefit from Walsall’s regeneration, that communities are regenerated as well as the area’s economy.”
Ends
Caption: Dr Peter Cromar of WRC (seated) is pictured with, from left, OnsNet founder Kees Rovers, Malcolm Corbett, Community Broadband Network, Stuart Masters, WATMOS Walsall Community Homes, and Marje Bridle, BCHS co-operative housing.
For further information please contact
Lorna Bishop or Nigel Pipkin
at Seal Communications on 0121 200 0780
or email lornabishop@sealcommunications.co.uk