Filey Town Council has rejected plans for the installation of free public WiFi due to concerns about high maintenance costs.
A plan to provide free public WiFi for visitors and residents at Filey’s seafront has been rejected by town councillors who said the costs were not proportionate to the scale of the proposed service.
Councillors concluded that the scheme...
“did not represent good value for money for all residents, as the costs going forward for a service that did not meet the town’s requirements were significant,”
The installation of ‘access points’ had been proposed at 14 locations across the town at a total cost of £36,000 which would have been met by North Yorkshire Council.
NYC said it would also cover the first year of operational costs after which Filey Town Council would be responsible for the maintenance of each access point which would amount to £2,380 a year or around £200 a month.
Filey Town Council would also have been responsible for access point replacement costs which would have been required in three to five years.
A recent council report notes:
"The cost implications for the town council had been discussed at the recent meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, which subsequently recommended to council that the proposal be rejected."
It adds:
“Members felt that the proposed scheme would only be beneficial to visitors and residents in a very small area and would not benefit businesses as the WiFi was not secure.”
However, Filey Town Council has said that its Finance and General Purposes Committee will
“look into alternatives that would provide a more suitable and inclusive service for Filey”.
Free public Wi-Fi is currently available in 20 towns across North Yorkshire via the authority’s provider NYnet, including Scarborough, Whitby, Thirsk, Malton, and Harrogate.
North Yorkshire Council has said that it is
“exploring how this technology could be used to promote local shops and services and create a different town centre experience”.
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