HOLMES Chapel will be among one of the first communities to benefit from Connecting Cheshire’s multi-million pound fibre broadband roll-out.

On Friday December 6, it was announced that more than 15,000 premises are set to benefit from the first phase of investment in new fibre broadband networks across Cheshire.

Holmes Chapel is as one of 16 communities included in the first phase of the project and will be one of the first communities to see additional fibre roll-out on the commercial coverage.

Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council, said: “We have been working hard for more than three years to get to where we are today. This is an exciting time for Cheshire and the beginning of a journey that will see our communications landscape completely transformed. This is great news and will help boost local businesses and the creation of jobs across Cheshire.”

Details of the planned roll-out were announced at a briefing held at Oulton Park, in Little Budworth, near Tarporley, attended by community representatives, councillors, business leaders and digital champions from around Cheshire.

From the end of March 2014 onwards, high-speed broadband will become available in more than 30 mainly outlying and rural communities across Cheshire.

Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation access for BT Group, said:

“This is a very exciting step forward for these communities because faster broadband can benefit everyone.

“Whether you’re a small business wanting to stay in touch with customers and suppliers, or parents with children using the internet for homework and playing games, whatever you do online, you can do it much better and faster with fibre broadband.”

The 28.5m Connecting Cheshire broadband programme will be delivered by Openreach – BT’s local network business to bring fibre broadband to more than 80,000 additional premises.

This will build on existing fibre networks already provided by BT’s commercial investment that will enable 96pc of Cheshire premises to access high-speed broadband over the lifetime of the programme.

Additional information is now available showing the proposed timescales for areas in the second and third phase of the programme, which are expected to see fibre availability from summer 2014 onwards in phase two, and from winter 2014 onwards for phase three.

Residents and businesses can check the coverage by visiting connectingcheshire.org.uk/check-availability.