UPSET constituents in Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott’s own ward, By Brook, say that despite millions of pounds being spent on a broadband upgrade in Castle Combe they’re still not getting the superfast connection.

Castle Combe, a village in the ward, was named as one of the first places to be part of a £35.6m project announced in September 2013 by cabinet member for broadband John Thomson.

But despite the green serving cabinet, which receives internet from the BT exchange and distributes it to nearby homes, being upgraded in 2014, villages like Ford and North Wraxall are unable to get superfast broadband due to the distance their homes are from the cabinet.

North Wraxall parish councillor Scott Williams said: “The problem is, if I type my postcode into the Wiltshire Council website it says I should get broadband but if I type it into BT it says the exchange has been enabled but we can’t get broadband.

“It’s all been done but we can’t get it which is appalling. We have businesses in the village and we are on 0.2-0.5mps broadband speed."

Mr Williams said the parish council would have investigated alternative cabinet arrangements had they known that broadband speeds reduce significantly the further from the cabinet homes are.

“My biggest argument with the broadband roll out is if, at the announcement, we had known we still would have not benefited we could have done something about it a year and a half ago.

“I don’t expect them to do anything for us for years; I’m completely disgruntled and appalled."

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “Due to the nature of the existing infrastructure, North Wraxall and Ford as a community will not benefit during the first phase of this project.

"However, we have also secured funding to roll out a second phase of this project and we will look at those areas not currently covered by a commercial provider or those who did not benefit from the first phase.

“We have invested significantly into this service and it will provide a big boost for local businesses and the economy as well as many householders.

"Around 44,000 premises in the county now have access to fibre broadband through the first phase of our project. Without this investment those homes and businesses would not have been picked up by commercial providers.

"By the end of March next year, we expect 91 per cent of premises in Wiltshire to have access to broadband speeds of 24mps and above."

But Mr Williams believes the lack of forward-thinking in regards to the Castle Combe upgrade will impact negatively on residents and businesses.

He said: “I know of 60 homes that can’t get broadband and there will be other pockets that are connected to exchanges but not getting the service.

“We are looking to create a new parish website but it’s going to take forever to upload the minutes onto it.”