Horsham District Council is delighted to announce that Horsham has been shortlisted in a national awards scheme as one of the top UK towns for small business development.

All you need to do now is cast your vote to support the town.

Enterprise Nation, the small business network and business support provider has teamed up with Dell Technologies, in partnership with Intel, to run a nationwide competition to find the UK’s top towns for business.

The initiative aims to shine a spotlight on the UK’s towns and cities that successfully nurture entrepreneurial spirit in order to make a lasting impact on local communities and the economy.

Our nomination for the award is now going to the public vote, so do please support the Horsham District.

Voting is easy. All you have to do is click on the link here:

https://www.enterprisenation.com/dell-top-town/vote/

The areas are being assessed on the following criteria:

• Connectivity including broadband, phone signal and transport links
• Dedicated workspaces
• Retail spaces including outlets with short-term leases or pop-up shops, markets and street food areas
• Networks that allow small business communities to collaborate and swap ideas and information
• Leadership – active local councils that support start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Regrettably the Parish Council has needed to cancel the Planning, Environment and Transport Committee meeting, scheduled for 24th March 2022, due to coronavirus and staff shortages.

CityFibre launched their FTTH (full fibre to the home) programme in Horsham in Oct 2021 – a £12m private investment from CityFibre to support digital transformation and bring next-generation broadband to 20000+ homes and businesses in Horsham.

The infrastructure is forecast to boost business productivity and innovation, deliver millions of pounds in economic benefits for the town – while giving local residents and businesses access to the UK’s fastest broadband services of up to 1,000 megabits per second.

Construction is now well underway – with a current focus to complete build in the following wards in 2022: Forest, Roffey South & Roffey North, Denne and Trafalgar.  This high-level plan is subject to change. CityFibre’s build partner in Horsham is Lanes-i. The project is due to complete by 2023/4, however, they will connect residents as they go along. 

Their network is open access, any service provider can join and offer their services – national, regional and local providers are already on their network.  As they reach key milestones and the number of ‘ready for service’ homes grows, internet service providers (ISPs) will be ready to serve these homes and deliver some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available in the country.  Residents can register their interest here.

It is recognised that the work is disruptive for residents, and they aim to get through areas as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Lanes-i drops ‘notice letters’ a week prior to works commencing in each area.

For urgent access or safety concerns, enquiries and site complaints, please direct constituents and residents to our Enquires & Complaints team, who can be reached either by Email: complaints@cityfibre.com or phone: 08000836160