To approve the approach to addressing the challenges of Broadband in the county outlined in the attached Intentions Paper.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Community Services presented the report which sought Cabinet’s approval to the approach for addressing the challenges of Broadband in the county as outlined in the report’s accompanying intentions paper.  Cabinet was advised of broadband importance to the county in enabling businesses to be competitive and communities to access services.  The intentions paper outlined a target for improvement and the options for enhancing broadband coverage.  This includes improved IT infrastructure and instigate a community based solution based on pilot areas in a number of geographic locations.  Cabinet was advised that the vision for 2012 was for all homes and premises in the county to have affordable access to broadband at speeds of 2Mbps.  The vision for 2015 and 2020 was for significantly higher broadband access and download speeds. The Head of Economic and Community Services acknowledged that the vision was ambitious however the focus on speeds would support the future delivery of Herefordshire’s public services. 

The Chairman stated that he had met with leaders from other rural authorities to discuss broadband in the context of rural areas, which had not in his opinion been addressed in the recent Government publication ‘Digital Britain’.  Rural authorities were collectively lobbying Government to address this issue which was crucial to the quality of life of citizens and the economic wellbeing of rural areas.

RESOLVED:

THAT:

(a)    the approach to be addressing the challenges of Broadband outlined in the Intentions Paper be agreed; and

(b)    it be noted that the Intentions Paper forms the basis of a paper for wider circulations.