South Yorkshire: Council leaders agree to close disastrous Digital Regions broadband venture

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month that the Government had decided to abandon its role in the scheme at a potential cost to the taxpayer of £45m with Business Minister Michael Fallon describing the project as “deeply flawed”.

South Yorkshire’s four councils, who co-owned Digital Region with the Government, were left to decide whether to press on but today announced it would close.

In a joint statement today, the local authorities said continuing with the scheme would cost more than £95m and instead there will now be a “managed closure” with subscribers transferred to other networks.

Launched in 2009, Digital Region was an ambitious project to lay 500-miles of cable under the streets of South Yorkshire to create the fastest broadband network in Europe.

However, the network has only managed to attract 3,000 paying subscribers, a fraction of the 108,000 originally forecast, leaving councils and the Government carrying multi-million pound liabilities.