HIGH-SPEED Internet has arrived at around 1,000 homes and businesses in Silsden, with another 750 to follow soon.

The arrival of superfast broadband in Silsden this month has been welcomed by district and town councillor Adrian Naylor.

He said that until now broadband speeds had been limited to the capacity of the copper wire on the old Silsden network.

He said: “The fibre-optics are now in individual streets and houses. People in Silsden can access all the education and entertainment that’s on offer.”

Telecoms giant BT is more than halfway through the installation fibre-optic cable in Silsden.

This has been made possible through the multi-million pound Superfast West Yorkshire programme, a government-backed scheme which aims to extend high-speed Internet to 95 per cent of UK premises by 2017.

Coun Naylor said that thanks to the work by BT, several firms could now use the network to offer competing broadband services.

He said: “It’s easy to do these things in cities, but it’s hard when you’re on the hinterland of Bradford. We’ve never been able to get the top speeds until now.”

Coun Naylor said regeneration body the Airedale Partnership – which he used to chair – worked hard to attract investment in high speed broadband.