Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, is continuing to urge constituents to sign his petition push for improved speeds of Superfast Broadband in the constituency.
Gavin has so far campaigned in Himley, Swindon, Lower Penn, Codsall Wood, Trysull, Seisdon and Calf Heath where, according to national statistics, broadband speeds are particularly poor. The petition currently has 914 signatures from residents from these areas.
Although progress has been made by BT and the Superfast Staffordshire project, with more cabinets being made ‘live’ in recent months, South Staffordshire’s current broadband download speeds are ranked at 567 out of 650 parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom. At present, the average download speed in some of the more rural areas such as Himley and Swindon stand at 5.7mb/s compared with 31.9mb/s in neighbouring urban constituency Wolverhampton South West.
The campaign hopes to also expand on the access to Superfast Broadband that urban areas enjoy, such as Wolverhampton North East, where 99% of residents are able to access Superfast Broadband compared to 72% of those living in neighbouring South Staffordshire.
Commenting on his campaign Gavin said: “I am continuing to urge South Staffordshire residents to support my campaign so that we will be able to enjoy the broadband speeds that residents in Wolverhampton enjoy.
“Broadband has become a vital part of our daily lives and there is no reason why rural homes and businesses should be at a loss compared to those in urban areas, where access to communications is as important if not more so than those who live in cities such as Wolverhampton.”
Gavin's petition can be downloaded below.