Posted: 18th Jan, 2011 By: MarkJ


The neighbouring rural
West Midlands (England)
Herefordshire County Council (HCC) and
Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) have teamed up to develop and submit an "
ambitious bid" for a new generation of superfast broadband services to the governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office, which will see each contributing
£300,000 to help get the job done.
The government has officially already accepted an earlier Herefordshire proposal as part of its first superfast broadband pilots. However, according to the Gloucestershire Council, the bid will also include parts of Herefordshire - up to 80% of the
Forest of Dean, parts of
Gloucester and
Tewkesbury.
In total, the project is expected to cost up to
£12 Million, with the bulk coming from central government and commercial broadband ISPs ( e.g. BT ). The pilot could ultimately be
extended across all of rural Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, depending upon its success.
Cllr Chas Fellows, Cabinet Member for Economy and Environment, said:
"Accessible fast broadband is seen as an increasingly important element of infrastructure for both business and the wider community.
Indeed, many experts say next generation broadband will be a key contribution to local business success, both to support existing firms and help attract new enterprises as well as giving a general boost to local economies.
We set up the Recession Fund specifically to help projects like this and in these difficult times, I believe it is all the more important to focus on creating a stronger, more secure economy in Gloucestershire."
The new cash has been designed to help get the project set-up and to develop proposals to aid in an extended roll-out of superfast broadband services within the region. The cash itself will come from the council's
Recession Fund, which is aimed at helping businesses through difficult times.
Gloucestershire First will also look to develop an
EU funding bid, which would help support the early roll out of the pilot to other rural parts of the county. At this stage little else is known.