hello

After quite a lot of interaction on the Cumbria County Council ‘have your say’ site we have been accused of hijacking the thread (so that worked then!) and a new thread has been created so that people can continue to pursue the topic of Broadband for Cumbria on the county Council’s consultation site. As with this site there are only a couple of Councillors admitting to reading the posts, or at least responding to the posts, but it seems that someone is looking and hopefully we’re going to have some impact on the decision-making process.

Below is part of Eddie Martin’s most recent post (the rest pertains to other parts of the thread which have been active over the weekend)

Rick, Anne, Chris… and everyone else

First let me reassure you that your messages ARE read and your comments noted.

Second, I admit to being a little bewildered by the Broadband debate. Most, if not all, councillors are not experts. I full well realise, however, that we can reduce costs, do things differently, and that we can better rural proof if we have improved broadband. We WANT better broadband; it is a primary goal of the Council. What I do not want to happen is that we commit ourselves to a course of action (and considerable investment) which we might regret in say 5 or 10 years time. We are currently reviewing our ICT strategy; we DO now have a project team, a comprehensive report is coming to Cabinet in February/March and we shall interrogate it thoroughly and forensically. I do not want us to embark on a course of action that we might subsequently regret. We have to get it right! The many suggestions made by the many on these pages will certainly form the basis of MY interrogation. But I am reassured by the Chief Officer concerned that your comments and suggestions are being noted.

It is to be hoped that others will continue to check out the site and keep the newly created thread active.
A vast amount of infrastructure which is still in use today was created more than 100 years ago by forward-looking local politicians seeking to make their mark on the world they were helping to create collectively we call them the Victorians]. here may be letters between them asking why we should build sewers three foot in diameter when six inches would do, there may have been arguments about the volume of water they were seeking to extract and pipe to new areas but if THAT WAS THE CASE then we must be very grateful that it was those with forethought who won out. We cannot guarantee ‘future proofing’ in a digital environment when things change so quickly but it will be a false economy for the Council to choose a model which has obsolescence built in. I am at a loss to understand why so many on this site seem keen to have such limited horizons and are determined to shout at those who recognise that we need the best possible solution now even if we have no real idea of what the apparently excessive provision might be used for.

Aileen