northlincs.gov.uk

  68        (9) CREATION OF ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT POST – The Director of Places submitted a report which sought approval to create a new fixed term post to assist with the delivery of the Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Business Support Programme.  The Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Business Support Programme offered support to eligible Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Northern Lincolnshire. The aim was to maximise the benefits of broadband and the offer provided 12 hours of free support to SMEs.

The council successfully bid for £0.9m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to fund the support and a team of five officers were currently delivering the programme.

It was explained that the post would provide additional support to the delivery of the programme.

Resolved – That the establishment of an additional fixed term Administration Assistant post (grade 3) to support the Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Business Support Programme be approved.

69        (10) UPDATE ON NORTHERN LINCOLNSHIRE BROADBAND PROGRAMME AND THE FINAL 10 – The Director of Places submitted a report which outlined the progress on the Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Infrastructure Programme and the Northern Lincolnshire Business Support Programme and sought approval to progress with the provision of the final 10% of Broadband Coverage subject to funding.

The council had championed the delivery of the infrastructure element of the programme.  It was explained that this would enable delivery of fibre broadband services to the areas covered by North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council.

The project aimed to “ensure that homes and businesses could access super fast broadband and make use of the benefits it offered, no matter where they were located in the county.”  The project plan was based on achieving the most technically efficient rollout as this would achieve the greatest level of coverage and speed uplift possible for the investment available.

The report identified that Government had announced a further £250m to support the final 10% of coverage, and details were outlined within the report. Approval was sought for the development of an ERDF bid to support further BDUK funding to increase super fast broadband coverage pending the statement of intent from the Secretary of State.

Resolved –  (a) That the progress with the Infrastructure element of the Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Programme be noted; (b)  that the development of an ERDF bid to support the final 10 be approved, and (c) that the significant achievement made with the Northern Lincolnshire Broadband Business Support Programme be noted.

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Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.