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Seathwaite residents call for broadband boost
The village's broadband service has been described as almost "prehistoric".
Around 30 homes in Seathwaite, located in the Duddon Valley, rely on a 2Mbps broadband service delivered via a fell-top radio feed - an innovation pioneered by local pub landlord John Batten.
According to the North West Evening Mail, he contacted Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock to highlight the lack of suitable broadband access in the community and to call for improvements to be made.
"Hopefully for a comparatively small amount of money our system could be upgraded to a faster speed," Mr Batten said.
Responding to the call, Mr Woodcock praised the initiative but admitted the connection is almost "prehistoric" when compared to faster broadband services available in many other parts of the country.
BT is planning to deploy up to 40Mbps fibre optic broadband to two-thirds of UK properties by 2015, while the telecoms giant and Virgin Media are both rolling out ultra-fast up to 100Mbps services to some towns and cities.
In contrast, Seathwaite only has broadband of any kind because of the work of a "determined and savvy resident", Mr Woodcock said.
The politician has urged Cumbria County Council to secure match funding for the £17.1 million allocation it received from government body Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) to enable it to finance a faster service.
A spokeswoman from the local authority explained that under BDUK's funding terms, the money must only be spent on financing broadband in areas that private sector providers are not planning to invest.
"We expect the funding will be spent in rural areas," she explained.
In addition to the government money, the county is set to bid for European Regional Development support later this year and is also planning to spend its £6.7 million Performance Reward Grant on broadband, the spokeswoman added.