The Northumberland communities of Bywell and Newton have secured a grant from the Village SOS Big Lottery Fund to support the rollout of faster broadband.

Residents won £10,019 of funding from the scheme, having previously had an application for cash from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Rural Community Broadband Fund turned down.

The money will be spent on the installation of wireless relay hubs across the parish, forming a wireless mesh that will extend local broadband coverage to more properties.

At present, the system - which is run from the local community hall - delivers consistent downstream speeds of 20Mbps and 8Mbps upload rates.

Anne Moyle, local resident and chair of Newton and Bywell Connects, said these capabilities are "in a totally different league" to those that were previously available.

"By attempting to resolve the broadband issue, we have brought together residents of all ages and moved onto discussions about other issues that are important to our community," she added.

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