Frustrated residents who are still waiting for superfast broadband to reach their homes and businesses have vowed their village ‘will not conveniently disappear.’

Uploders residents have been campaigning for superfast broadband since 2015 and were ‘delighted’ when it was eventually agreed that the village would be included in Superfast Dorset’s 2016-17 rollout.

Work was due to be completed last month but residents are still not connected to superfast broadband and have accused the company, and Dorset County Council, of ‘breaking promises.’

Carolyn Stewart, of the Uploders Superfast Broadband campaign, said: “Initially, our plea was turned down but thanks, at least in part, to the help given by the Bridport News, the council had a change of heart and we were included in the 2016-17 rollout. We were really pleased when we heard it was all going ahead.”

Ms Stewart says a resident was contacted in early 2017 and ‘urgently’ asked to give permission for a green box to be installed on her land, leading villagers to believe work was underway.

“Nothing happened,” she said. “The parish council enquired and was told the work would be completed by the end of December. However, on the Tuesday before Christmas we received an email to say that the work had been postponed until March 2018.”

Ms Stewart says the community feels let down but added that the village is adamant that DCC and BT ‘are made to stick to their word’.

“It is hard to give this latest promise any credence given the history of missed deadlines and broken promises,” she said.

“The assurances we were given have prevented us from accessing funds for alternative technologies and we are tied to a company that seems happy to treat us with contempt.

“Despite what they might like, Uploders will not just conveniently disappear."

Superfast Dorset, a partnership between BT Openreach and Dorset County Council, aims to provide 97 per cent of premises with access to superfast broadband.

Campaigners have raised concerns that the remaining three per cent will be rural communities ‘left behind’ and there are no plans to provide superfast speeds to villages including Chilcombe, Littlebredy, Haydon and Nether Cerne.

DCC cabinet member for natural and built environment, Daryl Turner, said: “Running fibre-optic cabling to some very rural areas can present many geographical and engineering challenges. Extending the network to Uploders and the neighbouring community of Askerswell has proved much more difficult than expected. There is major damage to some of the underground ducting, which will mean that substantial engineering works are needed. This could not have been foreseen.

“This work was due to be finished by the end of last month. We have given Openreach until the end of March to try to find a cost-effective solution. We are committed to making superfast fibre broadband as widely available as possible.”

The Bridport News has contacted Openreach for a comment.