Digital Infrastructure

Digital is at the heart of providing the best services for citizens and communities. It straddles homes, businesses and the ability to effectively deliver services.

We’re undertaking our transformational Digital Infrastructure Project, with the vision of making St Helens a world-renowned digital district.

We’ll be enabling the roll-out of an ultrafast full fibre broadband network within the Town Centre and providing the fastest and most resilient next generation digital infrastructure available.

It is set to futureproof our digital connectivity, ensuring its infrastructure can service the requirements of St Helens residents, businesses, and visitors for decades to come.

Why are we delivering the Digital Infrastructure Project

As well as enabling the delivery of the wider St Helens Town Centre Master Plan, the Digital Infrastructure Project aims to address digital inequalities and exclusions, providing the foundations to enable those that do not have access to fast broadband and sufficient data are not left behind.

Its aim is to create economic opportunities and new jobs, working to ensure St Helens residents, partners and business can thrive in a digital future, using technology to improve the lives and life chances of everyone.

Our Full Fibre Network will provide gigabit-capable, ultrafast connectivity. It and is the next generation of digital infrastructure and will deliver speeds of more than 1Gbps.

St Helens can become renowned for its digital capabilities, new technology and support of innovation. It will help ensure the Town’s improvement ambition becomes a reality, and can support in new and safeguarded jobs, attracting enterprise and entrepreneurs.

Key features

Accessing the network: Unlike most fibre networks, this will be ‘open access’. That means any Internet provider can utilise the network. It will encourage competition amongst internet companies both locally, such as new St Helens start-ups (alternative network providers) and national operators. This will deliver a range of choice of high-quality digital options for residents and business.

Minimising disruption: The project will utilise the ‘Dig once’ principle, meaning that where possible, our fibre will be installed when other work is taking place, ensuring existing construction activities are fully utilised. This will maximise duct build, minimise cost and prevent excess disruption within the Town Centre.

What does it mean for residents?

Competitive broadband packages
Better broadband speeds and bandwidth
Improved connectivity for online education, media streaming, online shopping, and gaming.

What does it mean for businesses?

Flexible working from home benefits
Competitive broadband packages
Increased productivity
Increase economic productivity within the Town Improvement Plan intervention area
Support new ways of work, enabled by digital

What does it mean for the public

Free Wifi and community assets
Enablement of other technologies such as 5G

Key timescales:

Construction start: June 2024
Construction end: July 2025

Who’s involved:

St Helens Council
CJ Founds Associates
Build Partner (To be confirmed)