RESIDENTS who turned down the chance to have internet cables laid 20 years ago have dug deep to fund a project worth tens of thousands of pounds to increase their broadband speeds.

The people in Welshwood Park, in Colchester, turned down the chance to have cables laid two decades ago because they did not want their roads dug up.

It means while much of Colchester can get a minimum of 20mb/sec, Welshwood residents are stuck on a lowly 2.1mb/sec.

Now the estate’s 100 households are set to benefit from the ambitious £23,000 project which will finally see the cables laid.

Residents have paid in about £460 each and have awarded the contract to BT. About half the residents have contributed.

Peter Halliday, chair of the Welshwood Park Residents Association, said: “We have grouped together to do something about it.

“I suspect 20 years ago, the residents perhaps did not realise how important broadband would become." 

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