A MAN who wants to move to Herefordshire says the county's broadband 'chaos' is creating 'no-go areas.'

And he says it's time people took the issue up with their local councillors and push them to do better.

A recent report showed average broadband speeds in the county are possibly the slowest in England.

Paul Bennett, from Malvern, says the lack of clarity about when faster speeds will be available across Herefordshire has meant he and his wife have had to rule out six or seven houses they were 'seriously interested' in buying.

And he says the total that they have ruled out since they started to search around two years ago is more than thirty.

"Just imagine what this is doing to house prices. Broadband is a basic service now, alongside electricity and gas."

Mr Bennett has been infuriated by different information provided by Herefordshire Council under its Fastershire scheme and Gigaclear, the company who are putting in the fibre cabling to deliver the broadband.

As an example, he says the Council's website said work was due to start in December in one area he was interested in.

"You would think with a small village, if work started then it would take a couple of months and you would have a broadband service.

"But when I contacted Gigaclear to find out exactly when it would be available they said they could not guarantee that start date, and then it could take a year but also depended on progress.

"People are being given the wrong impression. There is no clarity or consistency. This is a scandal."

He also claimed that speeds could end up being very different in neighbouring villages, from 35mbs to 900 mbs.

"Predicted provision is a lottery and no-one at the council seems to have a grip of this.

"This must be seriously affecting the local economy and the chance of selling your house.

"A lot of the county may as well be on a desert island. Certain parts are no-go areas. It just seems like chaos."

A Fastershire spokesperson said the council had decided to invest in superfast broadband (30Mbps or above) in areas not covered by the commercial network and now 87% of the county is covered.

In the latest roll-out Fastershire give an estimated build dtsrat date, but because the fibre network is buried the time taken is heavily dependent on external factors, such as weather, traffic management.

"The project advises that the build can take up to 12 months to complete.

"Currently 14% of Herefordshire can already access a full fibre connection and by the end of 2021 over 50% of rural properties in the county will have access to full fibre, way in advance of other areas of the UK.”