UK broadband gets a boost in £900mn Government project

Local authorities have been told about their share of the £900 million Getting Building Fund, with some directing funds to connectivity even if it has not been mentioned by the Government.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a raft of infrastructure project to get money flowing back around the economy. Unfortunately, broadband or mobile connectivity was not mentioned as part of this investment.

BoJo might have forgotten about his pledge to connect every household to full fibre broadband by 2025, but at least some of the local authorities remember.

Worcestershire is one authority which is directing at least part of its share of the Get Building Fund to broadband projects in partnership with CityFibre. Worcestershire will receive £12 million of the £900 million which has been set aside by the Government.

Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Hertfordshire are among the other local authorities to push investment towards broadband and other connectivity projects.

“As business led partnerships with a ready-made pipeline of projects, LEPs responded swiftly to the Prime Minister’s call for infrastructure projects with more available when government is ready,” said Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Network, Mark Bretton.

“LEPs ‘can do’ business attitude has created a proven track record of complex delivery, landing projects at scale, on time and to budget. The foundations they are building for local recovery in their Five Point Plan will underpin our national recovery.”