Member Article

Extra £30 million for Yorkshire Superfast broadband scheme says Culture Secretary

Culture Secretary Maria Miller has announced an extra £30m plus of Government money for superfast broadband will help business start-ups and job creation in rural areas of Yorkshire and Humber.

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.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller (pictured below) said: “Superfast Broadband will benefit everyone in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

“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.”

Peter Holmes, Yorkshire regional chair of the Institute of Directors, said: “This is long overdue and great news. For those dealing with Asian sourcing where websites are hideously slow to load with existing set-ups the added speed of Super-Fast Broadband will be a definite productivity plus!

“Reaching out to more rural areas will surely make it easier to work from home and might even encourage some start-ups.”

Local projects across the region will now receive additional funding from a £250m national pot.

This funding is in addition to the £1.2bn already invested by central and local Government and will according to them, ensure that 95% of UK homes and businesses have access to superfast broadband by 2017.

The Government predicts that faster broadband will create an additional 56,000 jobs in the UK by 2024, and the work involved in the current roll out is expected to provide a £1.5 billion boost to local economies, with approximately 35,000 job-years created or safeguarded over the period to 2016.

The funding will be allocated as follows:

• South Yorkshire will receive £10.4 million
• West Yorkshire, Kirklees will receive £6.62
• North/North East Lincolnshire will receive £1.18 million
• North Yorkshire and York £7.6 million
• East Riding £5 million

Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce welcomes the news that superfast broadband is going to be given more Government funding.

David Hooper, External Affairs Manager at the Chamber said: “It is something we have been campaigning for across the Humber region and are pleased to see that the roll-out of a long-awaited scheme in Northern Lincolnshire is now getting underway ahead of schedule.

Government also recently committed £10m to look at ways to reach those areas in the “final 5 per cent”.

The fund will open on 17 March 2014 and we are asking local authorities to offer support to these pilot projects.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .