Complaints over repairs to Peterborough pavements after installation of superfast broadband

Miles of full-fibre cables are being installed under pavements in most city streets with work expected to be completed by June 2021.

The £30 million investment is the result of a new partnership between CityFibre and Vodafone to deliver Gigabit capable full-fibre broadband to five million UK homes and business by 2025.

Current work has been going on in Dogsthorpe Road, but former Peterborough City Council leader and councillor for Park ward, John Peach, revealed there have been complaints over the repairs to the pavement.

CityFibre said full repairs have yet to take place.

Mr Peach said: “I have received a number of complaints about the quality of the repairs to the pavements along Dogsthorpe Road after CityFibre have laid their new cables.

“The tarmac on the pavement now looks absolutely atrocious with lots of gaps, holes and unevenly laid areas.

“I have already reported this to the council who are going out to inspect the repair works.

“Some of the repairs have been found to be like a temporary reinstatement, awaiting a permanent repair.”

Rebecca Stephens, CityFibre’s city development manager for Peterborough, said: “CityFibre is investing £30 million into Peterborough to transform the city’s digital connectivity and bring gigabit-speed full fibre broadband within reach of almost every home and business.

“Working in partnership with Vodafone and Peterborough City Council, we are making real progress with our construction programme. Our contractor is laying the final connections on Dogsthorpe Road, and once this is completed full reinstatement works will be carried out.

“While the nature of the project means some disruption is unavoidable, we are doing everything we can to minimise this and will continue to keep residents up-to-date with our plans.”

The latest installations are part of work that has been going on for five years to make Peterborough a Gigabit City.

So far most of the city’s schools, council offices and Peterborough City Hospital, plus hundreds of businesses, have been connected to the Gigabit City network providing access to ultrafast speeds, increased reliability and near limitless bandwidth.

Last year, high-definition CCTV and traffic management cameras were added to the network.

First Peterborough residential streets to be connected to superfast broadband are named