A report by the cross-party Public Accounts Committee has criticised the slow pace of the Government’s ‘Project Gigabit’, designed to accelerate the speed of the superfast gigabit broadband rollout across the country.
The report warned MPs were “still not convinced” the Government would meet its 2025 target for superfast broadband because of “little tangible” progress being made so far.
The report also criticised the Government’s over-reliance on the private sector to get to hard-to-reach communities.
The Government aims to deliver gigabit-capable broadband, with speeds of at least 1,000Mbps, to at least 85 per cent of the UK by 2025.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the LGA’s Digital Connectivity Spokesperson, said: “Councils have a vital role to play in helping to improve local communities’ connectivity.
“To help the Government reach its 2025 target, councils need more funding to support telecommunication providers to deliver improvements on the ground.
“The Government should empower councils to place a digital champion in every local area to help facilitate delivery and support providers to install gigabit-capable broadband as quickly as possible.
“This will be essential to avoiding local bottlenecks and the slowing down of delivery. We are concerned there is no detailed plan in place to ensure those in the very hardest to reach areas are not left behind.
“A local digital champion would be a central contact point for government and broadband providers to help problem solve deployment issues in the local area.”
He added: “Tackling the digital divide will be important to levelling up in every community, ensuring everyone has the connectivity and digital skills they need to thrive.”