The ‘South West Shropshire *Local Joint Committee’ that brings together town and parish councils in the Clun, Bishops Castle and Chirbury areas are asking the mobile operator EE to come to their next meeting to answer the mass of complaints they have been receiving from residents about the decline in the coverage of the EE network across the area.
Local Councillor Heather Kidd said: ” What many in the mobile phone industry dont appreciate is how much we have come to depend on mobiles in rural areas over the last decades. It is not just a matter of social convenience but also of personal safety. For example a forester came to the last meeting to explain how if would be his only lifeline if he had a accident. This was raised by a member of the public as a real concern.
” We have also been angered by the blatant and arrogant refusal of EE to talk to residents or Councillors about the problem of the reduced signal. The best we have had is meaningless waffle. What is clear from contacts we have in the telecoms industry is that EE has had major problems combining the networks it took over* Whatever the problems they face it is only reasonable for them to explain why the standard of our service has declined so much.”
Heather has also now raised these issues with Shropshire Council Officers who are looking at BDUK funding being used to put masters in for ‘not spots’.
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