Councillors slam ‘poor workmanship’ during full fibre broadband rollout in Northampton

Councillors have criticised ‘poor workmanship’ from a company that is rolling out full fibre broadband across Northampton.
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CityFibre is now over a year into its £40million investment deploying a gigabit capable full fibre network which will reach almost every home and business in Northampton.

But councillors say they have been regularly receiving complaints about the quality of the work taking place in their communities.

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Councillor Emma Roberts is a ward member for Delapre and Briar Hill, and said she had had numerous complaints about works being carried out on Southampton Road and St Leonard’s Road.

CityFibre is rolling out full fibre broadband across Northampton.CityFibre is rolling out full fibre broadband across Northampton.
CityFibre is rolling out full fibre broadband across Northampton.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Generally the complaints we had were about poor workmanship. Things like equipment being left on the pavement and blocking accesses and driveways, and complaints about the repair work quality.

“In parts of Briar Hill they dug up the grass verges instead of the pavements and it could take up to 12 months to reinstate them, so we could be looking at a long time for that.

“It has been a lot better recently, but they have significantly been leaving our area so I don’t know if that’s the case in other places.”

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Councillor Roberts raised the issue at the latest full council meeting of Northampton Borough Council on November 2, and asked deputy leader Councillor Phil Larratt if the authority was communicating with CityFibre and the county council.

Cllr Larratt said: “We do recognise the recent increasing number of complaints arising from poor workmanship as a result of the rollout. These issues are mainly involved with the work that CityFibre is doing on the highway and they are directly liaising with Northamptonshire County Council over these. NBC have also engaged with CityFibre over the plans to address the breaches of working practices.

“A number of steps will be taken to address these issues which focus around increased supervision, audits and training to ensure correct working practices and policies are adhered to.”

He added that the county council would be funding an independent highways inspector to oversee the works.

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A spokesman for CityFibre said: “We recognise works of this scale can result in disturbance for residents. It is because of this that we constantly monitor performance with our build partners to put in place measures that minimise disruption and ensure the quality of our works meet the high standards we set ourselves.

“As a result, CityFibre has carried out some additional remedial works in the town and we plan to launch an awareness campaign with residents to help address any potential future concerns. CityFibre is also following all COVID secure guidelines to minimise the risk of virus transmission to staff, contractors and the general public. Any reports that guidance is not being followed are being dealt with swiftly.”

The response from CityFibre did not answer how many complaints had been registered by Northampton residents, as had been requested.

The programme is expected to be finished by 2023, and Councillor Larratt noted that full fibre coverage in Northampton had increased from 0.5 per cent to 10.3 per cent since April.

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