£31 million for South West Superfast broadband
The Government has pledged an extra £31.45m to bring superfast broadband to the South West today.
The Government hopes the extra money announced by Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, earlier today will help promote business start-ups and job creation in some of the hardest to reach rural areas in the South West.
Local projects in the South West will now receive additional funding from a £250m pot, with coming in addition to the £1.2bn already invested by central and local Government.
Chris Garcia, Chief Executive of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership said : “We welcome the announcement of additional funding across Devon and Somerset towards superfast broadband by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Superfast broadband is key to our economy; connectivity is the lifeblood of our peninsula.
“Whether virtual, road, rail, air or sea, business needs to be certain of reliable and fast links, helping to make our economy resilient. Competing on a global basis is an important element of our plans for growth, so unlocking these funds will be crucial to helping our businesses prosper, wherever they are based. “
The nationwide rollout is a key part of the Government’s long-term economic plan to secure Britain’s future by providing better access to superfast broadband, and in allocating funding the Government has worked to ensure as many families and businesses as possible benefit.
The Government say that the current rural programme will deliver returns of £20 for every £1 invested, and will create an additional 56,000 jobs in the UK by 2024,
The work involved in the current roll out is expected to provide a £1.5 billion boost to local economies over the period to 2016.
Superfast broadband allows families to use multiple devices simultaneously to stream videos with far less drop-off than previously
Businesses also stand to benefit from the roll out, which will facilitate video conferencing, boost processing power and increasing productivity.
Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: “Superfast Broadband will benefit everyone in the South West- whether they need it for work, to do homework or simply to download music or films. Thousands of homes and businesses now have access and it is helping people with their everyday tasks.
“We want to make sure that Britain is one of the best countries in the world for broadband, and the extra £250m we are investing will help ensure communities around the UK are not left behind in the digital slow lane.”
Last month, the programme announced that it would make high-speed fibre broadband available to 70,000 homes and businesses by the end of July and revealed the names of the latest exchange areas to be included in the CDS roll-out plans.
Now it has been able to go one step further and pinpoint the actual communities within those exchange areas, which will benefit.
In Devon, they include Ashford, Landkey, Heanton Punchardon, Braunton, Morthoe, Swimbridge, Burlescombe, Feniton, Ottery St Mary, Dunkeswell, Membury, Honiton, Newton Abbot, Ashburton, Ilsington, Kingskerswell, Bovey Tracey and Belstone.
Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth for Devon County Council, said: “With the recent weather highlighting the weaknesses in our critical infrastructure, superfast broadband has become even more essential to ensure that our businesses remain competitive and our economy continues to grow. Superfast broadband can dramatically alter how we work – opening up homeworking and other measures to improve efficiency and enable rural communities and businesses to continue to function in all but the most extreme circumstances.”
