SEEDA boosts access to broadband
2 February 2011
The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) has awarded a total of £375,000 to four rural community projects in the South East to help increase their access to broadband. The capital grants, made available through the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), are expected to improve local services, stimulate economic development and increase social inclusion. Ewhurst and Surrey Hills, the Wealden Local Strategic Partnership, the Hampshire County Council’s Little London/Smannell project and Natural Enterprise on the Isle of Wight will be able to use the funding to provide access to the broadband infrastructure and upgrade the existing network to ensure a minimum speed of 2Mb/s is reached. Robert Crawford, Operations Director at SEEDA, said: "SEEDA has been investing into improving broadband access in the South East and we are delighted to be continuing this work with these four rural community projects. The RDPE funding will support the local communities and provide them with the same opportunities to compete with areas that already have sufficient broadband access. This will ultimately be good for local businesses and the growth of the local economy." A total of seven applications were received for the 2010 RDPE bidding round managed by SEEDA. The funds were provided through the European Economic Recovery Programme.
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