Good morning Chris,

Thank you for your email, and the document you have provided in an attempt to address community concerns.

I would like to address some of your comments within both the email and attached documents, both directly and indirectly if possible.

Firstly, while we understand that Giggle Fibre Limited is a completely separate legal entity to Spring Fibre Limited, based on our research we do believe there is/was a strong connection between all entities involved. Before I start, I do acknowledge there will probably be some minor factual inaccuracies in our research below, but we believe on the whole it is a fair reflection of events and the current situation.

Spring Fibre last year started a roll out of telegraph poles to support their own gigabit fibre deployment. As part of this roll out, their primary infrastructure contractor was SCD which you are a director of. During community consultation, including a public meeting, the number of telegraph poles originally proposed by Spring Fibre was reduced from around 400 poles to just 2. These 2 pole were in locations where underground infrastructure wasn't viable.

This brings me to my first question, if Spring Fibre where were using SCD for fibre installation believed that unground works were possible and only 2 telegraph poles in Garforth would be required, what has changed? Has new evidence of underground challenges come to light since the statement was made by Spring Fibre?

The next point I would like to raise is that according to multiple public sources, Spring Fibre went into administration and was purchased for £1.5m by Harmony Networks Limited, which you are also a director of. I believe based on the fact that Giggle Fibre's name is on the permits with Leeds City Council and on the posters, that the existing infrastructure acquired under this has been transitioned to Giggle Fibre before Spring Fibre went into liquidation. 

Giggle Fibre itself appears to have been an off the shelf company purchased in or around 12th November 2024 as Companies House shows Harmony Networks Limited becoming a person of significant interest on 12th November, all existing directors being terminated on 21st November and yourself becoming sole director on the same date. I'm not sure if this approach was to create a perception of being an established company prior to the acquisition of Spring Fibre's assets or otherwise, but I speculate.

My second question is, if you were aware of challenge in the community surrounding the installation of telegraph poles through your fibre installation contact with Spring Fibre, what was the reasoning behind resuming the project under Giggle Fibre knowing that Spring Fibre had also received opposition, and based on my previous point, likely knowing that underground options were not available to you?

Based on these points, the only reason I can why a project which had previously been opposed would be picked up, and fly in the face of previous discussions is down to money. If that is the reason, transparency with the community would have been better received, if it was backed with a series of statements which outlined why it would be beneficial to the community being impacted, for example:

 - Projected max speeds available to the property
 - IPv4 / IPv6 dual stack
 - Full duplex, symmetric connections

In your example, you state gigabit fibre increases the value of properties. While this is correct in areas which have a poor broadband infrastructure, Garforth is already serviced by BT Openreach using underground ducting and supplying up to 1.6gbit asymmetric FTTP and Virgin Media. As property values won't increase in this case, they would only potentially decrease as a side effect of telegraph poles being installed on streets which currently do not have above the ground infrastructure.

In relation to your request to facilitate the collation of 5 members of the community to attend a bi-weekly meeting at your HQ in Micklefield, unfortunately this isn't something we can support as we believe that closed door conversations is one of the key reasons why the community as so frustrated by developments to date.

We understand that you are a business man and you are technically operating within the laws and rules of infrastructure deployment, but the community you're impacting is your potential customer base who are currently putting up posters, blocking SCD during installation, writing to their local MP and Councillor daily and sharing objection and concerns on social media.

While people may eventually forget the challenges that were faced, the internet doesn't forget, and when people like myself are shopping for a new broadband provider, the first thing they do is search online.

Kind regards,
[Name]