Shropshire’s rural broadband plans get the green light

It’s no secret that the broadband services in rural Shropshire could use a boost. Users from the area have previously complained about the near-crawling Internet speeds that they experience with their connections. Late last year, Shropshire councillor for Worthen and Chirbury, Councillor Heather Kidd, stated that broadband in the rural areas of south Shropshire was “terrible.” She also comment that the government funding the council received to address these concerns was “woefully inadequate.”

However, that’s all set to change. The government has given the go signal to the plans proposed by the Shropshire Council to install superfast broadband in the area.

Many doubted that the plans would be approved when the Telford and Wrekin Council pulled out from the joint project. The reason they gave for pulling out was because they needed to make £40 million in budget savings by the year 2014, and could not justify the spending share of £700,000 that they would have to put out for the scheme.

For the project, the Shropshire Council has set aside £8.2 million, which has been matched in funding by the UK government. After the approval of their plans with Broadband Delivery UK, the Shropshire Council can now seek out a private partner to do the installation of broadband services in the rural areas of the county, excluding Telford.

Martin Taylor-Smith, who is the portfolio-holder for Information technology at Shropshire Council, stated: “We’re seeing broadband for rural areas as being a key part of jobs and creating jobs in the area. We see it as vital to the lifeblood and getting the economy in Shropshire up to speed.”

Shaun Davies, from the Labour-led Telford and Wrekin Council also commented: “In an ideal world £700,000 is an investment we’d like to make. We’re not living in an ideal world.”