‘Timid’ Approach to Broadband will cost County Dear

Charlotte Barnes, Lib Dem Councillor for Bishops Castle, has urged Shropshire Council to have a radical reappraisal of its policy on broadband before it looses the £11m broadband investment offered and leaves the County in the technological third world.
Charlotte, who is on the Council’s Shropshire Broadband Partnership, said “We are at a critical crossroads in the County’s economic development. Either we match fund the £11m of European Money on offer to upgrade our broadband or we watch as our County falls behind the rest of the UK in terms of economic competitiveness. B&B’s , small businesses, pubs, hotels and farmers* will all suffer. We could be creating a business desert across swathes of very rural Shropshire
Interest Rates
“The obvious solution is to borrow the shortfall. Interest rates are at an all time low and its the option being looked at by many authorities. Broadband is after all one of the Council’s key priorities.
“As we have seen this week, many partners in our communities are loosing faith in the Council’s commitment to this project. It must act soon. Shropshire cant afford to loose out on this.”

 

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