Eddisbury MP welcomes Government’s continuing commitment to lightning fast broadband

Edward Timpson MP has welcomed the Conservative Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit that will see more than one million hard-to-reach homes and businesses benefit from lightning fast broadband.

This project prioritises areas that currently have slow connections, and which would otherwise have been left behind in broadband companies’ rollout plans, putting the investment in place to make their available speeds rocket to more than 1,000 megabits or one gigabit per second.

It means families no longer having to battle over bandwidth, and will give people in rural areas the freedom to live and work more flexibly. Contracts for these first areas will go to tender in the spring with spades in the ground in the first half of 2022. 

Project Gigabit will also make £110 million available to connect public sector buildings such as GPs' surgeries, schools and libraries in hard-to-reach areas, as well as investing £210 million in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which will help cover the installation costs of bringing gigabit connectivity to homes and businesses in rural areas.  

Cheshire has benefited from similar projects in the past, and with a range of local fibre projects currently in place, it has one of the fastest improving broadband networks of any county in the UK. Connecting Cheshire, in particular, has done a great job by ensuring that 4,000 additional properties in the county are plugged in to receive much faster broadband. 

Edward stood on a manifesto commitment to improve broadband connectivity. 

For Eddisbury—which ranks 599th out of 650 constituencies for superfast broadband coverage, and where 12 per cent of residents receive downloads of less than 10 megabits per second—delivering faster broadband to all our communities is an evermore vital and significant infrastructure project, and one that will be truly transformative. 

Edward will continue to lobby hard for rural Cheshire’s needs to be addressed during the next phase of Project Gigabit’s roll-out. 

In plugging in and powering up every corner of the UK, this Conservative Government is helping to accelerate our recovery from the pandemic and level up the country, creating jobs and spreading wealth across Britain as we build back better.

Eddisbury MP, Edward Timpson CBE, said:

“Families and businesses across the UK are relying on the internet now more than ever to work, shop and stay in touch with loved ones, so connection speeds have never been more important. 

“Improving access to high speed broadband is one of my top priorities as Eddisbury’s MP. I meet regularly with the Digital Minister to discuss this challenge, and will continue to lobby hard for Cheshire’s inclusion in phase 2 of Project Gigabit. 

“By investing in hard-to-reach areas across the UK, this Conservative Government is creating jobs and spreading wealth across Britain as we level up and build back better.”

The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, said:

“Project Gigabit is the rocket boost that we need to get lightning-fast broadband to all areas of the country. This broadband revolution will fire up people’s businesses and homes, and the vital public services that we all rely on, so we can continue to level up and build back better from this pandemic.”

Digital Secretary, the Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, said:

“Project Gigabit is our national mission to plug in and power up every corner of the UK and get us giga-fit for the future.

“We have already made rapid progress, with almost 40 per cent of homes and businesses now able to access next-generation gigabit speeds, compared to just 9 percent in 2019. Now we are setting out our plans to invest £5 billion in remote and rural areas so that no one is left behind by the connectivity revolution.

“That means no more battling over the bandwidth, more freedom to live and work anywhere in the country, and tens of thousands of new jobs created as we deliver a game-changing infrastructure upgrade.”