Telford & Wrekin Council withdraw from rural broadband scheme
Telford & Wrekin Council have today revealed they are no longer supporting a scheme to provide superfast broadband to around 7,000 rural homes in the borough.
The council were joint partners in a scheme with Shropshire Council to bring broadband to rural areas in the county. In August 2011 the scheme was awarded £8.2 million to help bring superfast broadband to rural areas.
As part of the scheme Telford & Wrekin Council were required to spend £700,000. This would have supported a funding bid by Broadband Delivery UK.
The council say, given the scale of savings that must be made - £40 million by 2014 - it has decided that the spend, cannot be justified.
Cllr Bill McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council cabinet member for resources, said: “We are now talking with broadband providers to encourage them to look at any other ways they can help extend rural broadband coverage and speeds in parts of the borough.
“We reluctantly decided that, at a time of unprecedented cuts in council funding, spending £700,000 to support improving broadband in rural areas cannot be justified on something that is not essential and would benefit a relatively small number of people.
“When we have to make decisions on whether we can continue funding care packages for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, spending £700,000 on broadband for around 7,000 homes simply does not represent value for money.”
Current Access
In the Telford & Wrekin area, around three in four homes can already access superfast broadband, compared with Shropshire, which because of its more rural nature has some of the lowest broadband coverage in the country.
