TWO Dartmoor villages are finally joining the fast lane of the super information highway after Dartmoor planners agreed to rectify their ‘appalling’ broadband deficiency.

Postbridge and Hexworthy are about to be up to speed after the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) agreed to the installation of a tele-communications package at Hessary Tor, Princetown, which will improve the villages’ ability to keep pace with the real world through their phone and computer networks.

Planning officers had recommended refusing the application from Airband Community Internet Ltd which wanted to install a 12m wooden telegraph pole with 12 antennae and 450m of trenching to a power source at the beauty spot.

They felt the project would have a detrimental impact on the local scene which already features a 180m mast just 180m away.

One critic who spoke at the meeting described the lack of a serviceable broadband facility at Hexworthy and Postbridge as ‘appalling’.

Dan Jones, for Airband, said the company had made exhaustive searches for better sites — but none had been found. Hessary Tor was by far the best option.

The local parish council had been divided on the matter, although most local councillors supported the broad aims of the scheme.

Members of the national park authority’s development management committee went against officers’ advice and accepted the application at this month’s meeting in Bovey Tracey.

An authority spokesman said afterwards that DNPA had been working with Airband to provide a high speed broadband connection via wireless technology to domestic and business premises where a traditional fibre solution was unavailable.

A total of 16 small masts had already received planning permission to support the rollout.

‘The proposed installation at Princetown provides a vital link in the network — and to the masts in Postbridge and Hexworthy which have already been permitted. 

‘Dartmoor planners have carefully balanced the impact of the proposed mast against the undoubted public benefits. Support for the mast will ensure that the network can now continue to be rolled out across the moor,’ said the spokesman.

The proposed installation is part of the Connecting Dartmoor and Exmoor programme which is a government-sponsored initiative to deliver superfast broadband services to remote rural locations on the neighbouring national parks.

The spokesman added that DNPA was ‘disappointed’ that the option to share the existing infrastructure, in line with government policy, was rejected for technical reasons and cost.

‘This option would have ensured superfast broadband could be provided to communities like Postbridge via a wireless link without the need for a new mast.’