RESIDENTS in Purton were shocked to find works to carry fibre broadband cable to their homes had been abandoned.

They noticed on Monday that contractors working in the village had vacated the site, but had left trenches still open and barriers up.

Complete Utilities had been working with Gigaclear to help bring superfast broadband to the Berkeley area, but the firm suddenly ceased trading on Sunday.

Gigaclear is one of the suppliers involved in the Fastershire project, a partnership between Herefordshire and Gloucestershire County Councils to deliver ultrafast broadband across the two counties. 

And Complete Utilities was one of Gigaclear's contractors. 

District councillor for Berkeley Vale, Lindsey Green, was alerted to the situation by her dad.

“My dad who lives in Purton phoned me to say on Monday evening that other contractors were out measuring the job up and the guy he spoke to told him that Complete Utilities has gone into administration and that they were sizing up the job possibly to take the work over,” she said.

“As it stands they were halfway down through Purton but on Monday it was noticed by residents that Complete Utilities had packed up and gone, taking all their vehicles with them.

“Normally the diggers and other equipment were left for use the next day.

“They have left behind quite a mess, with the trenches still open and the barriers still up.

“We have disabled people in the village who are being adversely affected by this.”

Cllr Green is now liasing with Gigaclear to find out how what will happen to the abandoned works in Purton.

She said: “I’ve been told by Gigaclear that they’re instructing another subcontractor to finish any live works and that Purton would be a priority, but as of yet I’ve had no updates on when this may happen.”

A spokeswoman for Gigaclear said: “We were notified on Sunday, October 31 that Complete Utilities Ltd, one of our partners working with us to deliver ultrafast broadband across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire were to cease trading with immediate effect.

“Complete Utilities Ltd have been good partners to us in the region since the start of our activity in 2015.

“We are assessing the impact and are transferring commitments to other contractors in the region.