Asked when Devon & Somerset might have a 95% minimum coverage, Phase 2, superfast broadband programme up and running, during the Nov 16 DCC Place Scrutiny Committee hearing, all that Ms Keri Denton, Programme Director for Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS) could reply was: “How long is a piece of string”.

This follows the failure of CDS to secure a Phase 2 supplier for rural Devon & Somerset in June 2015, by when all other UK Counties had put their Phase 2 programmes in place. Only Devon & Somerset now remain without a 95% programme in place meaning that rural properties could now be waiting many more years before their broadband speeds improve.

It was also confirmed during the Scrutiny Committee hearing that the reason CDS failed to agree a Phase 2 contract with BT in June was because not one District Council in Devon was prepared to commit the match funding that CDS needed to draw down £22.75M from central government for the programme, although every District Council in Somerset had committed their match funding contributions. The failure of Devon County and District Councils to work together on this means that not only Devon’s rural taxpayers, but also those in Somerset, have now scheduled date for when their broadband service, often with speeds below 2Mbps might improve. Having committed match funding, Somerset Districts now have their own board representative on the CDS Project Board from which Devon Districts remain excluded. With many Scrutiny Committee members being District as well as County Councillors, Ms Denton asked for their help to get Devon Districts into the programme.

The current best estimate as to how long a piece of string may be seems to be July 2016, which will be over a year after all other UK Counties secured their Phase 2 funding and got the project underway. Government ministers still talk about all the UK having 95% superfast (>24Mbps) coverage by the end of 2017, but by July 2016, CDS will have spent two and a half years trying to put a Phase 2 contract in place and next July they will only give the chosen suppliers 18 months to deliver the project. The end of 2017 now looks like a target that will be missed.

While Devon County and District Councils continue to fail to work with each other on Superfast broadband, businesses prepare to more out of rural areas to the towns because they cannot keep their website shop windows up to date at 2Mbps and rural houses become impossible to sell when prospective buyers learn they will get no more than 2Mbps from their ISP’s.