Leicestershire County Council (LCC) has agreed to effectively match the governments superfast broadband funding, which will help to deploy faster internet access around the region, with £4m from its own coffers. By comparison the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office has already allocated £3,880,000 to Leicestershire and Rutland (here).

Curiously the council's official report references a lower government commitment of £3.14m, well below BDUK's official £3.88m statement. No explanation for the huge £740k discrepancy is given. The combined funds, which will also be match-funded with investment from the private sector, should help 190,000 rural residents get a better broadband service (details are still being worked out).

Furthermore LCC is to put an additional £300,000 towards helping communities in the most remote rural areas, where it is most challenging to deploy superfast broadband.


The council's contribution will apparently come from the government's £6 million Council Tax freeze grant, which is possible because LCC had already budgeted for a similar freeze before the grant was officially announced.

LCC also recognises that BT and Virgin Media have already "made significant investments" to boost the county's broadband services, although this does not generally include rural areas like parts of Harborough, Melton and Hinckley and Bosworth.

As per usual the council now plans to run a survey of local residents and businesses in order to help establish where the worst affected areas are. All participating councils are doing the same.