West Sussex Council UK Sets Aside £13m for Gigabit Broadband UPDATE

The West Sussex County Council (WSCC) in England has officially published their plan and budget for the 2023 – 2024 period, which among other things has set aside a total of £13 million to invest in supporting the “roll out of high speed gigabit broadband for businesses and residents“.

However, at the time of writing, we couldn’t find any solid information on precisely how the local authority intended to spend the extra funding. Some of it may well be used to boost the value of grants under the UK government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) and it’s possible that another part could also go toward fostering more Dark Fibre to upgrade public sector sites (anchor tenancy model). But right now, the detail is missing.

Cllr Paul Marshall, Leader of the Council, said: “I am delighted that we are going to be able deliver a budget that continues to deliver for those in need whilst also ensuring continued investment in the priority areas set out in Our Council Plan.”

UPDATE 22nd Feb 2023

The council has asked us to highlight how the £13m figure for the “roll out of high speed ‘gigabit’ broadband for businesses and residents” is part of their Capital Programme, which is a scheme of spending budgeted over a 5-year timetable (i.e. not just for this year). This funding will be spent on a range of initiatives to improve connectivity in the county to support economic innovation and growth, as well as to enable as many homes and businesses as possible to access ‘gigabit-capable’ technology where services are otherwise not likely to be available.