Neil Parish MP to chair public meeting on rural broadband

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, is chairing a public meeting in Upottery on rural broadband in Devon.  The meeting has been organised by Upottery Parish Council after concerns that rural areas like Upottery will not see the benefit of the Government’s rollout of superfast broadband.

The Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) Programme is on track to deliver superfast broadband to 90% of premises across the Devon and Somerset area overall by the end of 2016, up from 64% overall when the programme began.  The programme is supported by a £32 million investment from Broad Delivery UK (BDUK).

However, there are concerns that the final 10%  of households in Devon not covered by the broadband programme will be left behind and that this will disproportionately affect rural communities.

The public meeting is taking place Friday 7 February, 6pm to 7pm in Upottery Manor Rooms. Also attending to take questions from the public are Mrs Keri Denton, Head of Connecting Devon & Somerset along with Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, Devon County Council portfolio holder for CDS, and representatives from BT.

Neil Parish said: “Up to 83 percent of premises in Tiverton and Honiton will have superfast broadband by December 2016 up from 39 percent of premises currently. This is a fantastic achievement but I do not want to see the last 17 percent excluded from accessing superfast broadband.  I have recently raised rural broadband with the Prime Minister and I will be meeting Ministers to access the additional £250m of Government funding set aside to increase superfast broadband coverage to finish the job in Devon.”

The Government’s rollout programme has almost tripled in just three months the number of premises benefiting from superfast broadband leaping from 111,968 to 273,731 by the end of 2013. The programme aims to deliver 95% coverage by 2017.

UK coverage of superfast broadband is already higher than Germany, Italy and Spain, and more than double that of France.