HOPES are growing in North Swindon that BT could be about to bring fibre broadband to the area after years of campaigning.

It is thought due to a miscalculation of the number of houses in the area, many people have been left without a superfast provider.

While the company has not confirmed it, one local resident has spoken with BT engineers who say they have started a trial in the area.

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson is also confident after having productive meetings with senior employees at BT Openreach.

In recent years, there has been a growing campaign for fibre provision, which would offer much faster download speeds, with little success.

But resident Damon Bower said on Tuesday he saw a number of senior engineers in the region.

In a Facebook post, he said: “This morning I met some very good people from a small company called BT Openreach.

“As of next week they are installing into Mayfly Road, Boatman Close, and Minnow Close Fibre to the house.

“This is a trial for uptake and as long as uptake is good it will then rapidly roll out to the rest of Oakhurst, Redhouse and Haydon End they will also mop up the areas left in Taw Hill.”

Mr Tomlinson said at a recent meeting he was given an indication BT will look at the area, in part because of the campaigning from residents.

He said: “I had an extremely productive conversation with the head of BT Openreach.

“This is as a result of my repeated meeting and huge upsurge in residents signing up on their website. They have agreed to re-examine the Northern Sector to see if it makes commercial sense to move forward.”

The development follows the decision earlier this week to reject planning permission for five masts needed to progress the council-backed wireless broadband scheme in North Swindon.

UKB Networks want to put up the masts but many residents in the area, including Mr Tomlinson, have said they do not want the service, which is being supported with £2 million of public money.

“The planning meeting sent a crystal clear message to UKB that their outdated technology is simply not wanted and would not attract the needed customers,” he said.

Despite the setback, UKB has said it will be pushing forward to the other households in Swindon which currently lack superfast broadband and where there has been more support for the scheme.

Will Harnden, the chief marketing officer, said: “We are pleased that the rest of the borough is more receptive to superfast broadband and we are really encouraged by the numerous messages of support we have had over the past few days. We intend to push ahead as quickly as possible to bring superfast broadband to the 13,000 homes in the scheme outside North Swindon.

“We remain committed to finding a mutually acceptable solution to providing superfast broadband in North Swindon and will be having further engagements with the ward councillors and residents in the coming days and weeks to find an amicable solution to this issue.”