A BROADBAND box it was hoped would bring high-speed Internet to a Durham suburb is still standing empty eight months after it was installed.

BT Openreach installed the supply box on Abbey Road, Pity Me last summer following sustained pressure from residents and local county councillor Mark Wilkes.

But eight months on, it is still standing idle, with no electricity supply or wires connected.

Cllr Wilkes is calling on Durham County Council and the Government to intervene and force BT to upgrade the box as part of the Digital Durham programme.

This £25 million initiative aims to deliver superfast broadband, with download speeds of more than 24 megabits per second (Mbps), to 94 per cent of premises across County Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland and the Tees Valley, along with minimum speed of two Mbps to all premises, by this September.

The Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall councillor said: “We were given commitments from BT that this would be dealt with.

“They spent over a year saying they couldn’t find the land owner so I found an alternative site.

“They installed the box and said by summer last year residents would be getting fibre optic broadband. But it simply hasn’t materialised.

“We’re just a mile or so from the centre of Durham City. Neither the council nor BT seem willing to take this issue seriously.

“Many people rely on faster broadband for working from home. How can Durham possibly be taken seriously as a place to do business if residents can’t even get basic broadband speeds? So much for the Northern Powerhouse.”

A BT spokeswoman said the cabinet was part of BT’s commercial roll-out of fibre broadband, which promises download speeds of up to 330 Mbps, and not part of the Digital Durham programme.

“It is currently on hold due to higher than expected power costs and also a possible wayleave issue in running power to the cabinet across private land.

“We are very sorry for any inconvenience this is causing and would like to reassure those affected that work will be completed but we do not currently have a definite timescale.”

Cllr Jane Brown, the council's cabinet member for corporate services, said the Digital Durham programme had been aware of the connectivity problem in Durham City for some time, but it is outside the area in which Digital Durham is allowed to invest, so public money cannot be used to address it.

However, she added: "The Digital Durham programme will continue to work closely with BT to resolve this issue in order to provide the households and businesses in this area with access to fast speed broadband.”