The Penallt Broadband Association (PBA) has been working hard since the Village meeting on May 31st.
On June 21st, we attended a meeting at Itton Village Hall arranged by MCC, where broadband providers met villages like ourselves along with representatives from MCC. Two villages, Devauden and Penallt, gave presentations on the work they had done so far and what their future likely steps would be.
An account of the meeting appeared in the July edition of The Link and, for those who have no seen it, the article is reproduced here (together with comments putting the record straight!).
We then started to tackle our two major funding applications, to MCC and the Welsh Assembly. We are pleased to report that the MCC grant application (up to £45000 to each of four Monmouthshire villages) has now been submitted and we believe that our chances of this being successful are good, given the progress we have made in recent months.
Our next target is to submit our application for a grant from the Welsh Assembly within the next month. A letter is going out to all Penallt residents along with the next delivery of the Penalltimate Edition; a copy of the letter can be found here. It explains that each application for up to £1000 per household must be made individually and that members of the PBA will assist with the form completion.
Some progress is being made regarding the divide in the village between those connected to the Monmouth exchange and those connected to Trellech. Whilst the former are looking to a solution regarding the Lone Lane cabinet, the solution for the latter seems more likely to be via an area WiFi provision. This will require a survey needed to establish just how such a wireless network can be configured, and this survey will focus only on those houses likely to be involved in the broadband upgrade. Thus it is important that those connected to the Trellech exchange and who wish to be a part of the Broadband Project confirm their interest now as it may not be possible to join the scheme later on, once the details of the wireless network have been established.
How to make the speed tests needed for the Welsh Assembly Grant application
Filling in the WAG application form