Hundreds of new homes in East Lancashire to get some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK

It follows a deal between Openreach and housing developers to build fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology capable of ultrafast speeds up to one Gigabit per second.

The deal will see 651 new homes in Clitheroe, Great Harwood and Blackburn get ultrafast fibre broadband.

Additionally, there will also be houses who will get ultrafast fibre broadband using existing infrastructure.

New housing schemes which will benefit include the Keepmoat Homes development in Harwood Lane, Great Harwood, the Story Homes Gib Lane development in Blackburn and Taylor Wimpey’s housing plans for Standen, Pendle Road in Clitheroe.

The agreements are part of an Openreach initiative agreed with the government and the Home Builders Federation to connect all new housing developments of 30 properties or more with ultrafast fibre broadband.

Kim Mears, managing director of infrastructure delivery at Openreach, said: “An ultrafast broadband network will be a major boost for these sites by ensuring that people living and working there have quick access to some of the fastest speeds available.

“It reflects our commitment to ensuring that Lancashire and the UK has a first-class network, capable of delivering the latest communication services for households, businesses and other organisations.

“We know that people are passionate about the speed and reliability of the broadband service their communication provider can offer them and that, for some, the availability of ultrafast speeds will strongly influence their decision on which new property to buy.”

The deal comes after criticism from businesses and politicians furious about the lack of fast broadband in the Ribble Valley, with some saying it was ‘non-existent’.