MP helps Crosthwaite Primary School celebrate connection to hyperfast B4RN broadband

South Lakes MP Tim Farron visited Crosthwaite CofE Primary School this morning as they officially marked joining B4RN's full fibre broadband network.

Tim joined local volunteers and B4RN CEO Michael Lee to meet Year 6 pupils who were all busy learning online using their laptops.

The school gets its 10Gbps service for no charge, joining dozens of other community hubs getting a free B4RN service.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron said: "It was an absolute joy to visit Crosthwaite Primary to see the positive impact that being connected to hyperfast broadband has had on the pupils' learning.

"This fantastic collaboration between B4RN and the local community in Crosthwaite will now make the village even more attractive for people to stay and bring up their family here which is really great news for the long-term future of the school."

Meanwhile B4RN is expecting an update from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) soon which will mean more projects in parts of Cumbria and Northumberland can now go ahead.

It follows a debate in Parliament led by Tim which has secured changes to plans which would have seen voucher funding for B4RN projects paused.

The new introduction of 'Voucher Priority Areas' means many B4RN projects in Cumbria and Northumberland will now go ahead, and will still be eligible for gigabit voucher funding.

B4RN CEO Michael Lee said: "DCMS and the new Digital Minister, Julia Lopez, have listened.

"Getting government policy changed is a rare thing and I thank everyone who backed the campaign.

"The Government are still ironing out exactly where the 'Voucher Priority Areas' will be. Once we have this information, we'll be able to confirm the good news to many of our volunteer groups in Cumbria and Northumberland that B4RN is coming to their community."

South Lakes MP Tim Farron added: "Following on from our debate in Parliament last month. I'm really encouraged that it looks like the Government have listened to our calls and we now have real hope for many of our local communities.

"I've been proud to work alongside B4RN and their wonderful volunteers in making this case to ministers, and now I'm just keeping all fingers and toes crossed that B4RN will be given the final green light to crack on with connecting as many of our local rural villages as possible with hyperfast broadband."