DESPITE Hampshire County Council giving the green light to plans which will extend superfast broadband to 97.4 per cent of county properties by 2019, rural pockets in East Hampshire continue to suffer from slow connections.

Council leader Roy Perry promised that 10,000 more homes and businesses will have access to speedy internet as part of a £7.8m extension to the county’s superfast broadband scheme, which he called a “vital investment to ensure Hampshire businesses and families continue to thrive in today’s digital world, particularly in harder to reach, rural parts of the county which make up the remaining few per cent”.

But over the Christmas period and in early January, some Passfield residents and businesses have been struggling with slow speeds and insufficient bandwidth which affects their computers, TVs and smart phones.

Stacey King, BT’s new regional partnership director for South-England, recently attended a meeting of Bepton Parish Council – six miles south of Milland – to discuss the small parish’s broadband problems.

BT has agreed to work with Bepton, which has a total population of 250 with 104 households, to see what can be done to improve the situation.

BT under its community fibre initiative has promised to prepare a quote for higher-speed broadband in certain parts of the village that are currently poorly served.

The scheme is separate from the county council’s better broadband programme.

BT has promised to undertake exploratory work to see if there are possible solutions and will give a quote for the cost of such solutions, including how much funding might be available from BT, central government or other sources.

The community will have to raise the rest of the funding itself.

The minimum contribution from this small community is likely to be at least £10,000 and possibly considerably more and it would have to be a one off payment.

Thereafter, BT would be responsible for maintenance and upgrading of whatever system is agreed, which could take between 12 and 18 months, or longer.

BT recently installed fibre broadband for the middle of Milland village, which has a population of 890 – including 415 households and several substantial businesses – helping those within the central area.

Others are still struggling with slow broadband speeds, especially those properties and businesses at the far end of the West Sussex village in Cools Pond Lane, Iping Road, Queen Corner and Titty Hill.

Bordon Wood, Rondle Wood and Triton Hollow are at the extreme end of the lines from the exchange at Rogate and their broadband and mobile phone reception are also poor.

Milland is described as part of the country that is “hard to reach” and efforts are currently being made to arrange a meeting in the village with Mrs King to discuss the ongoing problems created by the two exchanges and to find possible solutions.