DEFRA Open UK £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund for More Bids

The UK governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has today opened up their £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF), which is designed to help lift thousands of farms and rural businesses into the modern internet age, for a second round of bids.

The funding, which comes from both the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office, is designed to focus upon funding smaller scale broadband and business projects. For example, the grants should enable businesses to buy new machinery and develop green projects, while whole communities in the “remotest areas could get superfast broadband“.

The RCBF was first announced last March 2011 (here) and the first expressions of interest began to be taken between 1st December 2011 and 31st January 2012 (here). Today’s second round means that the grants now total £40 million, which includes the £20 million Forestry and Farming Improvement Scheme.

You can apply if your community is in a rural location identified as being in the “10% hard to reach area” covered by your local authority’s Local Broadband Plan (LBP), or if your LBP is not in place, if you are able to demonstrate that you will be in the 10% of hard to reach areas when the LBP is finalised (easier said than done).

The 10% aspect is directly related to the government’s goal of making superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services available to 90% of the country by 2015, which will sadly leave the last 10% stuck on a minimum internet download speed of at least 2Mbps.

Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, said:

“Superfast broadband has the potential to transform our most remote communities by opening up a world of new opportunities.

The fund will back those communities working to help themselves by bringing broadband to their homes and helping businesses develop and grow.”

Farming Minister, Jim Paice, said:

“This is good news for rural communities, as many of the farms and businesses that missed out the first time around will get another chance to apply for grants of up to £25,000, which will make a major difference to how they run their business.

We’re already hearing about the great benefits that our investment has brought to rural businesses and farms. Today, we’re transforming the business prospects of many more with new opportunities to get superfast broadband and boost their profits with new technology.”

It should be said that the funding, while welcome, is still just a drop in the ocean. Covering the last 10% of rural and remote communities with faster connectivity is usually much more expensive to achieve. Applications for the RCBF open today and close on July 6th 2012.

The Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF)
http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/funding-sources/rural-community-broadband-fund