More cash needed for digital target

THE Government may have to provide more money to meet its targets for broadband services in the East Riding, the local authority has warned.

East Riding Council has been allocated an initial grant of £5.4m from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) to improve broadband provision across the area, which is intended to stimulate private sector investment in an area with poor digital infrastructure.

But the council has called the Government’s targets “ambitious” and said more investment may be needed.

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Its response follows a debate in Parliament this week, after which Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said he was encouraged by an invitation to the council to discuss any funding gap.

A council spokesman said: “The Government’s ambition of having the best broadband in Europe by the end of 2015 with 50 per cent of the population have access to superfast speeds of 24Mbit/s or greater is ambitious and early indications in the procurement process appear to suggest the current grant may not be sufficient to deliver this outcome.”

The council was hopeful that BDUK would revisit the allocation.