To approve changes to the council’s existing broadband delivery contracts with Gigaclear to expand their scope in terms of the level of public subsidy and the number of eligible premises that would be reached with full fibre broadband.

Agreeing this change will release an extra £1.8m of existing subsidy to leverage no less than £956k private sector investment and will provide an extra 5,486 premises with full fibre broadband across the two counties of which 872 are currently incapable of accessing superfast broadband.  The timescales relating to the current contracts were previously extended through a cabinet member decision in March 2019.

To date 90% of premises in Herefordshire can access a superfast broadband service, from a starting point of the Fastershire programme of 0.6% premises in 2012.  Fastershire is a partnership between Herefordshire Council (as the lead partner) and Gloucestershire County Council, with capital match funding from national government and other sources.  The programme uses public funding to create a broadband network where commercial providers are not investing, as a way of residents and businesses taking advantage of the digital connectivity.