Agenda item

(Voting: 39 in favour, 13 against, 2 abstentions)

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Economic Development reminded Members that improving Broadband was a priority within the Council Plan.  Although SSDC had committed £640,000 in principle, this was subject to conditions and at the current time there was no assurance of the areas where the improved Broadband speed would be.

The Economic Development Officer of Somerset County Council advised that the other District Councils within Somerset had committed to the scheme and the programme would proceed regardless of whether SSDC chose to invest or not.  The £640,000 investment by SSDC would be invested solely in the SSDC area and would provide coverage over and above that which would be provided by the overall scheme.  She said it would not be possible to introduce SSDC money at a later stage into this procurement, due to the risk this would present for the procurement process. She provided Members with a short power point presentation on the progress of the Superfast Broadband programme.

In response to questions from Members, the Economic Development Officer advised:-

·         By putting the whole area into bidding lots, it was hoped each area would be attractive to Broadband providers.

·         The LEP funding was intended to improve Broadband for business.

·         Part of the tender process was to ensure communities were not isolated by having no or low Broadband speed.

·         Devon Procurement would be overseeing the procurement process and they would weigh all the bids against the criteria to ascertain which bidders were above the baseline. 

·         A mix of Broadband technologies could be selected.

·         The programme was to provide Broadband speeds of 24MB and above.

·         There could be technical and engineering challenges to providing Broadband to remote rural areas.

During discussion, some Members felt that their communities needed Superfast Broadband and the scheme should be supported whilst others expressed concern that there was no guarantee where cover would be improved, particularly in business parks across the district.  The Leader of Council proposed that in view of the uncertainty around where the additional coverage would be provided, together with references made in the Queen’s speech to Parliament earlier that week, and, the report of £258m BT profit that was being returned to the programme, that SSDC should not commit their funding at the current time.  This proposal was seconded and on being put to the vote, was carried (voting: 39 in favour, 13 against, 2 abstentions).

(Voting: 39 in favour, 13 against, 2 abstentions)