Cross-party support to take up full allocation of broadband funding

Shropshire Council has signalled its intent to submit a formal expression of interest in receiving the maximum £11.38 million allocation from Broadband Delivery UK to extend the rollout of fibre broadband across the county.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for broadband, said:

“This is something which has received widespread cross-party support and we’re all keen to make the most of this opportunity. We need to submit a formal expression of interest back to Westminster by 25 March and we intend to apply for the full amount.  Now we’ve come together and made that decision we need to get working quickly to identify potential sources of match funding.

“One of the aims of the stakeholder partnership group we’ve set up is to find ways of raising the funding required.  It’s early stages and by no means going to be easy, but if we can pull together and work towards a shared goal I think we can make a real success out of this opportunity.”

The partnership group was formally agreed to be set up at a meeting of full council on Thursday 27 February 2014 and includes the Shropshire Marches Campaign for Better Broadband campaign group, and will include other identified key stakeholders.