Communities
How could faster broadband benefit our community?
Having access to fast broadband doesn't just benefit individuals and businesses. It also can benefit local communities too.
If your community is in a "not-spot" or "slow-spot" for broadband, we've suggested some ways below that faster broadband may benefit you.
To gain these benefits, you may wish to become involved in a community campaign for better broadband in your area, or start one yourself for your village.
A paper has been published by The Plunkett Foundation which outlines community-ownership structures most suitable for community broadband scenarios. Download Community Broadband Models here.|
Faster broadband allows communities to benefit in many ways - we've suggested some ideas below.
Support for community life
Faster broadband allows local people to become more active within their community by making it easier to be involved with local groups.
Faster broadband allows quick access to updating websites, making using the Internet a good route for groups to keep their members informed.
People with a fast broadband connection are also more likely to use the web as a way to find out what's happening in their area too.
For example, many parish councils produce websites for their residents. These often detail what is happening in their community, local planning applications, issues which will affect the area etc.
This allows better access to local democracy and community involvement, as well as potentially saving money on newsletter print costs.
- Example: www.middlerasen.org.uk| Middle Rasen Parish Council, Lincolnshire.
Many other community groups also use the web to keep members informed and involved, from Scouts groups to local pensioner's forums.
If you would like to create a website for your community, there are several free and straightforward ways to do this.
- www.btck.co.uk| is the BT Community Web Kit, which lets community groups to develop their own free template based website.
If you haven't got fast broadband in your community, a local campaign to improve this might be a first step for better community involvement.
You can find out more about how your community can campaign for better broadband on the Onlincolnshire website - www.onlincolnshire.org|.
Better access to services
Many government and other services are now moving online - it's a much more cost-effective option.
Fast broadband allows individuals and communities to access a wide range of services from sites such as www.direct.gov.uk.
This site allows users to find out information on a huge range of topics, from "who is the local neighbourhood policing team" to "how to make your community greener".
On a more local level, the county council and local district councils also have a broad range of information and online services on their websites.
We've listed the County and local District and City Councils websites in the "Useful Links" section below.
Other online commercial services may also be helpful to communities and individuals.
For example, living in a rural area without owning a car may make shopping a problem. Many supermarkets offer online shopping with delivery to your door - easy to access with faster broadband.
Likewise, other services such as online banking make life easier for people in more remote communities.
Virtual working / Teleworking and other business opportunities
Broadband, combined with a change in the nature of some work and an increased emphasis on work/life balance, has lead to a new type of work - "virtual working" or "teleworking".
By using Internet-based technologies, people can work as effectively at home as in their employers' office.
High speed broadband makes many companies less dependent on their geographical location.
This increases the possibilities for home working for their staff, bringing employment possibilities into more rural communities.
Broadband could hence both help businesses grow and create alternative job opportunities in communities.
About 6 million people in the UK work either full time or at least part of the time from their home (European Labour Force Survey 2010).
Some will run home based businesses, and some will be employees. Many would benefit from fast broadband connection.
This also means that more rural areas may not be deserted during the day, as office workers commute to the towns and cities.
A growth in people working at home, using fast broadband, would also have "green" benefits too - less cars on the road, less pollution and CO2 emissions and less congestion in towns and cities too.
A community with good broadband would also potentially have more people around during the working day: this may even lead to reduction in crime figures!
