Red tape madness holding back broadband upgrades to Yorkshire flats, says Openreach boss Kasam Hussain

From the beauty of the dales and moors to the bustling enterprises of Leeds, Sheffield and York, it’s "God's Own County" for people who live and work here.

But when it comes to keeping Yorkshire connected, that diversity presents a big challenge.

Our 3,000 engineers here don’t just maintain the network, they’re building new, faster, more reliable connections for the future of the region.

Our ultrafast full fibre broadband network will support a host of online services and entertainment, whilst enabling thousands of businesses to operate with certainty that they can rely on their digital connection.

We’re already reaching thousands more local homes and businesses every week and working around the nature’s barriers here is a fact of life.

But all too often, the ingenuity of our engineers is hampered by entirely man-made obstacles.

In most cases, it’s not respectfully traversing a protected wilderness that slows us down.

It’s more mundane than that.

Surprising as it may seem when you’re delivering a digital upgrade – just getting permission can be a nightmare.

Connecting a block of flats, crossing a road, or putting up a new pole. Even putting new equipment on an existing pole.

It can all, so easily, be derailed by red tape.

As a result, flats across Yorkshire – particularly those in subdivided homes - are at a real risk of being left behind entirely by our broadband upgrades.

We can't get into many communal areas in buildings to install the new network - despite being able to repair the old copper lines that are already there.

We think that’s madness.

Most reasonable people would agree that companies should be able to use their existing access rights to improve people's connectivity without delay.

We know that few things are more frustrating than temporary traffic lights, so we always try to avoid using them.

With our existing network we can often avoid roadworks, but sometimes they’re essential.

To work faster and minimise disruption we need permission to work across an area, rather than applying for lots of individual street permits.

This means we can react quickly and change plans if a certain road isn’t ready or viable. And it’ll reduce time, money and also frustration for local people.

All told, we think we can cut street works processing times for councils by up to two thirds.

The Government has already committed to trialling this ‘flexi-permitting’ approach, but faster action is needed.

There’s little doubt, better connectivity can be a key to unlocking Yorkshire’s economic growth.

Research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows that connecting everyone in the region to full fibre by 2026 would deliver a £3 billion boost to the economy here.

It will help retain rural populations and attract skilled newcomers. Help businesses diversify and cut carbon emissions from commuting as well as turbocharging education and access to information.

Businesses can be freed from location constraints if better connectivity is available. People will find easier access to local and public services.

So solving these practical challenges needs to be a priority.

The internet takes many different forms and touches almost every aspect of our lives.

Last year, we used more data than ever before - more than 64,000 Petabytes (PB) of data in a single year - the equivalent of streaming nearly nine billion 4K movies.

That growth in data consumption shows no sign of slowing, so we continue to deliver the investment in upgrades that will keep us all connected in the future.

As our new network fast approaches one million premises across Yorkshire, we know there’s much more to do. And a relentless focus on achieving the right outcomes, with regulations and processes designed to do that, has never been more important.

Kasam Hussain is Openreach Regional Director for Yorkshire and the Humber. The company is a sponsor for the forthcoming Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.