Broadband to Benefit as EU Approve GBP3bn UK Rural Development Boost

The European Commission has approved a further 18 Rural Development Programmes (worth around £10.6bn between now and 2020), which among other things will be used to improve the competitiveness of the EU’s farming sector and upgrade broadband connectivity for rural areas. Some £2,568m of the total (3.56%) will be allocated by the EU to projects in England.

According to the EC, England covers an area of 132 935 km² of which 85% is rural (defined as settlements of less than 10 000 people, open countryside and some sparsely populated/remote areas). The total population is 53 million and 18% of those live in rural areas. Of the land area, 69% is farmland while forests cover 10%.

It’s worth noting that England’s total allocation is actually around £3bn (€4,056m), with £2,568m of that coming from the EU budget and the rest being transferred from the UK envelope for CAP direct payments, plus €495m of national co-funding and €90m of national funding top-ups.

Phil Hogan, EU Agriculture Commissioner, said:

“One of the great strengths of our Rural Development concept is that we have core priorities, but it is up to each Member State or region to design programmes which suit their situation. I am optimistic that the investment provided through the English RDP will not only help to stimulate growth and jobs in rural areas, but also encourage agri-environment schemes and other measures that will address challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.”

The official announcement doesn’t offer a lot of detail, although it does state that the programme will also support “limited strategic infrastructure investment” in those areas that still do not have “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+). The use of “limited” in that sentence is perhaps reflective of this aspect only equating to a small slice of the total, albeit still quite a lot of money (the specifics aren’t yet clear).

The funding for England is on a similar level to that of Germany, with Slovakia coming a little way behind. Nearly every other country in the latest allocation has received less. Europe wants everybody to be put within reach of a 30Mbps+ capable broadband service by 2020.