A SELECTION of new developments across Basingstoke and Deane look set to get access to superfast broadband after the leader of Hampshire County Council pledged to work with internet providers.

Councillor Roy Perry has announced an ambitious programme “Getting Connected” which will see improved connection to superfast broadband on new developments which haven’t had it installed as part of BT’s commercial roll out or the county council’s multi-million-pound rural programme.

It has been estimated that there could be as many as 5,000 premises already built on new Hampshire developments where no planned commercial investment has been made, and now the county council is planning talks with developers and broadband providers to find a solution to “retro-fit” them.

Officers at the county council have identified the top 30 developments with the most homes which will get priority for superfast broadband.

These include Basingstoke homes on the former John Hunt of Everest School and land at Sherborne Road, in Popley, Faroe and Maldive Close, in Popley, Skippetts Lane West, in Viables, land at the former Beech Down Primary School, in Brighton Hill, Mulfords Hill, in Tadley, and land near Dilly Lane, in Hartley Wintney. In addition, the scheme is also set to benefit homes in Ash Road, Beech Road and Linden Road, in Bishops Green. In total, these developments will cater for up to 753 homes.

The latest action comes on top of the pledge the county council made last November to work with district and borough councils, developers and broadband suppliers to make access to superfast speeds a requirement from the day the property is occupied on new developments.

Cllr Perry said: “I’ve been very sympathetic to residents who have been disappointed to discover that this matter was not automatically dealt with by either the developers, or the broadband providers.

“Some people who have moved into brand new homes are lucky if they are getting a speed of 0.5 Mbps – which is simply not good enough. We always accepted that help was needed to ‘retrofit’ existing houses in rural areas and we are aiming for 96 per cent coverage – but it was very disappointing to discover that these new developments often do not have good broadband from day one.”

Cllr Perry added: “I hope we can reassure these communities that we will have capacity to help and enable connectivity to superfast broadband.”