Great news: the government's DCMS GIGABIT VOUCHER SCHEME team has confirmed the Crook B4RN project is a PRIORITY AREA PROJECT and can continue to apply for voucher funding for hyperfast broadband. They have effectively, for us, scrapped the original deadline, allowing us further access to government funding as we sign up more members of the community to take B4RN’s superior community-driven service.
B4RN CEO Michael Lee says “This decision marks a significant change for your project. Prior to this, we expected all voucher applications to be paused from 24th September for up to a year - a decision that brought the viability of many of our projects into doubt. This is no longer the case, thanks, in no small part, to the huge effort to drive sign-up ahead of this deadline, which was a vital part of securing voucher priority status for your project”
This is great news for the future of the project and means it’s full steam ahead!
We can now move on to the next stage of our project with route planning, build preparations and the collection of investment pledges with confidence and B4RN's full support.