FRUSTRATED homeowners are still without high-speed broadband on a Bicester estate despite being promised it a year ago.

An agreement was reached between property developers and BT Openreach early last year over the service on the Kingsmere estate, following more than two years of lobbying by residents.

Locals say the deadline they were given for the work was last Friday but the three cabinets on the estate have still not been upgraded.

Kingsmere Residents’ Association co-chairman Graham Brogden said: “I think residents have been more than patient and have been incredibly inconvenienced for several years now not being able to access what is rapidly becoming the norm across the country.

“Bicester is supposed to be becoming an advanced eco town and it makes a mockery of the development.”

People living on the 450-home estate have been pushing for faster connection speeds for years and formed the residents’ association when Openreach said it would not deal with individual households.

An agreement was finally made last February that the developers – Bovis Homes, Taylor Wimpey Homes, David Wilson Homes and Bellway Homes – would fund the upgrade work.

Mr Brogden said: “We are getting very mixed messages depending on who we speak to about what is happening.

“It is all a bit of a mess.”

Openreach said: “Work to bring faster fibre broadband to Kingsmere is going well. However, due to the incredibly complex nature of the engineering project, the number of organisations involved and other factors – some of which are outside the control of Openreach – mean more work is needed over the next few weeks before the first residents will be able to order it.

“Openreach has been keeping the residents’ association updated on progress.”

Because Kingsmere is still being built, the work needed a lot of planning andliaising between organisations.

Andy Levis, chairman of the association’s broadband sub-committee, said: “We are incredibly frustrated.

“In December, Openreach said it was all going to plan and then we find out in January it is delayed.

“Everyone struggles to use the internet at peak times such as evenings or weekends. My wife and I would not be able to work from home together, or if my daughter wanted to watch something online somebody else can’t be online.

“We have not had a full update from any party.”

Work started on the estate near Bicester Village in 2010 and could see up to 1,500 homes built.