Belladrum supremo considers office flit over dodgy broadband
THE leading light behind the Highlands' most popular annual music festival is considering flitting office because of poor internet speeds.
Joe Gibbs, who runs the Belladrum Tartan Heart music festival, is considering moving his office from the site outside Beauly into Inverness over the issue.
His case is being taken up by Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant who has campaigned over broadband for years.
Mr Gibbs has said that poor broadband services have made him consider relocating the festival offices into Inverness.
While the festival itself would not be affected in any way and would remain on the same site, Mr Gibbs has said that poor broadband has made it almost impossible to run their business.
In desperation about his situation, Mr Gibbs contacted Rhoda Grant who has campaigned for improved broadband services in the north.
She said many businesses remain unsure whether they will actually benefit from the Next Generation Broadband Programme now taking place.
Many of these - including Mr Gibbs’ business - will not get connected to the mainstream project, as they are too far away from the infrastructure.
The Belladrum Festival last year contributed an estimated £4.6m to the Highland economy and £6.6m to the Scottish economy overall.
The festival supports the equivalent of 44 full-time jobs in the local economy and chips in £24,000 a year to charities and voluntary organisations.
Another nearby business, Boots N Paddles, based at Cabrich near Beauly, has also told Mrs Grant that if a reasonable solution to their broadband issue cannot be found or cannot be found in a reasonable timeframe then they may need to consider relocating the business, at significant annual cost.
The company has its head office and main store facility at Cabrich. The company employs up to 30 instructors between Boots N Paddles and TreeZone at the peak summer season plus contracts with a number of freelance instructors.
The Cabrich office cannot be connected to the mainstream project as they are too far away from a cabinet.
Mrs Grant said: “I requested a meeting with John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, to emphasise again to him the impact the uncertainty is having on businesses and homeowners (many of whom work from home), but he has refused to meet with me due to ‘diary pressures’.
“The relocation costs for businesses can be tens of thousands of pounds. This is money which is then lost to the business as it can’t obviously be reinvested. Relocation can also cause upheaval for staff logistically and financially.
"The infrastructure investment was needed to prevent this type of rural depopulation taking place yet, three years into the project, this is exactly what is happening. It is simply not good enough.
"Life is tough enough for businesses without having these additional strains placed upon them. The SNP Government has to start taking heed of what is happening here.
"I have contacted the NGB Programme partners about both of these cases and will again be asking for another meeting with John Swinney in a bid to force him into action by providing rural solutions, or additional funding to have the scope of the current phase of the programme extended. ”
Joe Gibbs said: “Ours is a media-heavy business and needs high internet speeds in order to be able to function in the environment in which we operate. At the minute we regularly sit tapping fingers waiting for information to download. This wastes a lot of time.”
Brenda Dunthorne, Director of Boots N Paddles said “Boots N Paddles is a fully mobile outdoor provider and with the increased use of social media, mobile phone and ‘cloud’ technology we are increasingly dependent on broadband to communicate with our customers, staff and partners.
"Our customers expect to have photos and videos uploaded onto social media as part of their overall outdoor experience. This is just not possible with our current level of poor broadband speeds."
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