In August 2009 Parkend made an application for the BBC Village SOS campaign which was focussed on the derelict shop in Folly Road adjoining the Memorial Hall. The bid was unsuccessful with the reason given that insufficient local stakeholder support had been demonstrated.
The exercise we are going through now with the community plan will hopefully change that position.
The plan proposed a for-profit social enterprise model which would reinvest profit to the community. It included a cafe/shop, a skills development centre and the management of a local Wimax network covering the areas of Parkend, Whitecroft and Pillowell.
The network would require connection at some local point to the fibre optic backbone managed by BT which would incur rental charges and there is also a licence fee for operating a Wimax service.
With the possibiliy of adding cellular telephone functionality to local transmitters, there is potential to recoup some costs from network providers.
An estiimate for cellular Wimax infrastructure was obtained from a supplier whose survey of the area predicted the need for a maximum of 7 transmitters. This number, relatively high for Wimax technology, is required to penetrate our woodland setting,
Below is the suppliers map, showing the reception area which conveniently spills over into Saunders Green
The infrastructure cost for these 7 transmitters was estimated at £42k and the sum of £50k should allow some contingency for change.
