Posted: 13th Jan, 2012 By: MarkJ


The Green Party Leader and Minister for Brighton Pavilion,
Caroline Lucas MP, has launched a new '
Let Brighton Bid' campaign that calls upon the UK government not to exclude the city from its
super-connected cities plan.
The campaign relates to the governments £100m
Urban Broadband Fund (UBF) commitment (
here and
here), which aims to improve superfast broadband services in up to ten UK cities. Sadly Brighton does not appear in the shortlist of cities because its population (
125,000 dwellings) falls just below the 150,000 threshold.
Caroline Lucas MP said:
"Our city is home to one of the biggest and most successful digital sectors in the UK. It's already growing three times faster than the national average and is delivering the majority of new local jobs.
But if Brighton and Hove is to stay competitive and be a big digital player in the long term, we must be allowed to bid for some of the £100m put aside for the Government's ultra-fast broadband scheme.
The city has the biggest cluster of digital business per head of population in the UK and a widely recognised digital alliance with Bristol and Manchester, so becoming a super-connected city is crucial to keep us at the forefront of the technology revolution."
Lucas has written to the Culture Secretary,
Jeremy Hunt MP, to make the city's case for a bid and is also encouraging local people to join a
Twitter campaign via the hashtag
#LetBrightonBid. That should help to
SPAM persuade him.
The campaign comes at a time when critics are still warning that the money won't be enough (
here) to meet the government's target and adding an extra city risks diluting it even further. Meanwhile others remain concerned about the government's desire to put funding into areas where the
private sector, through its own investment, should already be able to cover.