Businesses packing up and leaving Oldham business village

Luke Vernon is a director at VSM Marketing which operates from Salmon Fields Business Village in Royton.

The business village opened in 2007 and has been the home for several businesses and branches, however, Mr Vernon says those who operate at Salmon Fields suffer from a lack of modern, fast internet, which has not been upgraded despite years of complaints.

He said: "Still, after 17 years and thousands of pounds spent in alternative internet connections, Oldham's premier business village is connected to the internet via a copper wire.

"We've contacted Openreach so many times, but they will not confirm any dates of a potential connection to a fibre network."

Despite the many years of waiting and frustration, the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future.

'It's like living in a backward country'

Salmon Fields Business Village was opened in 2007 and was developed using funding from the EU.

In recent years, it has been the home for branches of real estate agents Ryder and Dutton, Swedish bank Handelsbanken, a Vitality franchise and others, including VSM.

However, Mr Vernon says some businesses are leaving the village due to the poor internet, with Handelsbanken having fully moved out.

Mr Vernon said he has "absolutely" thought about moving VSM out of the business village.

His frustration has been heightened following the recent opening of the Oldham Community Diagnostic Centre just a few hundred metres away.

Luke Vernon has spent years trying to improve the internet at the business village (Image: VSM Marketing)

Despite Salmon Fields Business Village's long wait for a fibre network, the diagnostics centre is said to be fully connected and getting high-speed internet.

Mr Vernon said: "I've wasted way too much of my time on this and every time the excuse is always 'it's out of our control'.

"It's like living in a backward country."

'Still a number of years away'

Unfortunately for Mr Vernon and other businesses at Salmon Fields, the wait is set to go on for longer.

When contacted by The Oldham Times, a spokesperson for Openreach said: "Salmon Fields Business Village is included in our build plan, but the proposed start date is still a number of years away.

"We’ll look at the location again to see if it’s feasible to bring the date forward and as soon as investigations are complete, we’ll contact Mr Vernon to update him."

Salmon Fields Business Village (Image: Google Maps)

Openreach said the business village is still included in their Full Fibre broadband build plans, but the date is some time away.

The telecom company also said the fibre network at the Oldham Community Diagnostics Centre is not part of their Full Fibre network.

Along with chasing Openreach for many years, Mr Vernon has taken the issue up with the council and MP for Oldham West and Royton, Jim McMahon.

A spokesperson for the MP said: "Mr McMahon has raised this issue with the government in the past and is awaiting a response."

Meanwhile, Cllr Fida Hussain, Oldham Council Cabinet member for business, employment and enterprise, said: “We are aware of the situation at Salmon Fields Business Village and our officers have been looking into the matter.”

“Unfortunately, the council does not have control over the fibre network across Oldham and we are not an operator of the Electronic Communications Infrastructure.

“We will continue to help find a resolution to the issue.”

An ambiguous future

After 17 years of poor internet, the situation does not look likely to improve at Salmon Fields Business Village.

With businesses moving out, Mr Vernon says landlords are trying to get new businesses to move into the village, but the internet is an issue for prospective occupants.

Handelsbanken was approached for comment.