BETTER broadband is coming to Swindon's outskirts at last.

Robert Buckland MP and Coun Gary Sumner are working with Openreach to bring fibre broadband to rural areas like Wanborough, Liddington, Bishopstone & Hinton Parva, Bishopstone and Badbury.

Wroughton councillors Cathy Martin and Brian Ford as well as Chiseldon councillors Jenny Jeffries and Brian Mattock have pushed the need to bring faster internet to their wards.

Openreach agreed to cost out the fibre provision for all these areas and this study is now underway.

The DCMS Gigabit Broadband Scheme is aimed at supporting the cost of provision of Gigabit capable broadband to homes and businesses in rural areas when part of a group scheme.

Mr Buckland said: "Once we have the initial package costed for each area, we can reach out to businesses and residents who may be interested. Gigabit-capable broadband also supports symmetrical connections meaning that upload and download speeds can be the same."