David Greening, Head of Housing, Cambridge City Council
“I want to thank you for your valuable contributions to our objective to improve access to super-fast broadband to our 8000 tenants and leaseholders. I know I and colleagues have valued your advice in an area of work that we have little experience in. Your knowledge of the market, the practicalities around installation and the providers themselves has enabled us to move the project forward much more quickly and smoothly than would otherwise be the case. I hope that you will still be around to support us through this programme until completion.”
Sarah Widdows, Street Works and Permitting Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council
“Cambridgeshire’s EDD and Streetworks Teams have collaboratively worked together to help the DCMS develop their “Toolkit” to develop best practices for future rollouts using innovative techniques and remove some onerous barriers that can impede expeditious delivery of nationally significant infrastructure to the overall benefit of UK PLC.
It has been refreshing that a strategy focussed team is willing to work with an operational team in advance of any commitments and promises that may be physically difficult to deliver or put the Council’s reputation at risk or be financially burdensome. We look forward to working closely together in the future to ensure the investment in Digital Delivery is cost effective and provides the best service for the residents and businesses in Cambridgeshire supporting its growth and economy.”
Patrick Haynes, City Development Manager, CityFibre
“Your proactive engagement with CityFibre – supporting introductions, setting up and positioning effective meetings – to the Cambridgeshire Streetworks team and also the University of Cambridge Granta Network, has contributed immensely to the mobilisation of our £25M FTTH project in Cambridge.
To establish an early good working relationship with Streetworks is mutually beneficial, engenders valuable trust and communication for when the project brings challenges.
For CityFibre to have access to the Granta network reduces disruption to the City of Cambridge, decreases costs, speeds delivery and provides the University with a commercial return on investment.
Both the above are examples of where your stimulus to adopt the workings of the DCMS Streetworks Barrier Busting toolkit are proving beneficial.”
John Taylor, Assistant Director (Transformation), Huntingdonshire District Council:
“Working with partners in the EDD team really matters to us. Having a digital strategy for Huntingdonshire is vital and EDD’s ability to deliver connectivity and facilitate contact with network providers is a key element of our work. It’s a pleasure to work with them.”
Charles Kitchin, Cambridge City Manager, CityFibre:
“CityFibre is installing a new Fibre to the Home network across the cities of both Peterborough and Cambridge. It’s a hugely complex project and requires the cooperation and collaboration of a whole host of different organisations and individuals. To help us navigate this complex stakeholder landscape the Enabling Digital Delivery Team have been incredibly helpful providing practical useful guidance and signposting us to the people we need to speak to. This enables us to properly deliver the programme in line with all the other works that are going on in the city and to fulfil our ambition of connecting every single business, premises and public sector building in the city. We look forward to working with the team in the years ahead and beyond to make sure that both cities fully reap the benefits of this amazing technology.”
Emily Watts, Resident Engagement Officer, Cambridge City Council:
“We first came across the EDD Team when Hyperoptic contacted me within the housing service about connecting our social housing properties. From the outset we knew very little about digital delivery it’s not something we do day-to-day so I was foundering to begin with. So I first contacted the EDD team they were then able to provide me with all kinds of support about wayleaves, connectivity, and the jargon that’s associated with it. So we really were learning as we were going. They were able to provide us with a foundation that got us to the stage we’re at now. We’ve completed wayleaves and are now ready to deliver within our properties. We have our portfolio ready. It really has been crucial to the success of our delivery within social housing and properties in the city.”