Sir Gavin Williamson has called for full fibre access to be rolled out without delay in the village of Tixall in Staffordshire following repeated outages.
Residents in the village have been without telephone and internet access for prolonged periods over the last few years, due to instances such as vehicles colliding with the communications box that serves the area.
Openreach has stated that the village will not receive access to full fibre until December 2025 or early January 2026 – meaning residents continue to deal with patchy networks and interrupted access.
Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council said: “The Parish Cllrs are grateful for the support shown by Sir Gavin and sincerely hope that, with his intervention, the matter of rolling out full fibre to the village of Tixall can be brought forward. However, we remain concerned that the communication box serving the village remains in a vunerable position and therefore, wish to call upon Openreach to give due consideration to installing some form of protection for the box to ensure further outages do not occur.”
Sir Gavin said: “In an increasingly digital world, rural areas such as Tixall must have access to full fibre networks so people can work from home, access media, and communicate with friends and family.
“I am deeply concerned that Openreach seem to be dismissing the concerns of residents, by not upgrading infrastructure or not being proactive enough to ensure residents have access to full fibre.
“I welcomed the opportunity meet with members of Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council to hear first-hand the difficulties in accessing vital communication services.
“I have called on the Chief Executive of Openreach to urgently intervene and ensure residents are able to access the services they require to go about their daily lives.”
