The provision of digital infrastructure across any development site is essential for modern demands and needs. The Berkshire Authorities aim to lead the way and ensure that the best digital infrastructure standards are adopted in any new development going forward. One tool available to achieve this is Supplementary Planning Guidance.
The purpose of the Digital Infrastructure Supplementary Planning Guidance is to provide direction and clarity for developers and local authority planning officers around the provision of digital infrastructure so it can be applied in a consistent way across Berkshire.
The aim of the Guidance is to consistently achieve point to point full fibre networks. This represents the current ‘gold standard’, where internet providers can access fibre connections to individual premises, in competition with one another (known as Fibre to the Premises or FTTP). As well as providing the best possible connection to the end user, such open-access network models have the added advantage of allowing digital infrastructure to be planned and incorporated very early on in proposals, allowing better certainty on design and costs to the developer.
The Guidance can be applied to all new build, refurbishment and renewal developments. It provides a framework in advance of becoming a formal Supplementary Planning Document, which would then be a “material consideration” in planning decisions.
Our Digital Infrastructure Supplementary Planning Guidance is available here: [link to follow] Standardised Wayleaves