Stockton North MP is calling for guarantees that some of the £5 billion pledged by the Chancellor to improve broadband will come to communities and new developments in Stockton North.
In his 11 March budget Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak MP announced funding for a Shared Rural Network agreement to radically improve mobile coverage in rural areas, and a record £5 billion investment in gigabit broadband rollout in the hardest-to-reach areas of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Now Alex is asking for the detail on this pledge, and wants to see areas in Stockton North benefiting from this investment.
Developments such as Orwell Grange in Carlton currently suffer from low broadband speeds, and Alex has been working with local people to get funding from developers and BT Openreach. The investment promised by the Chancellor could be used bring better connectivity these areas.
Alex said:
I’ve been working with local people for some time to bring better broadband speeds to developments such as Orwell Grange, and this and other areas in Stockton North should be beneficiaries from the £5 billion promised by the Chancellor.
We need to see more detail on this pledge but if the Chancellor is serious about improving digital connectivity, he needs to ensure communities aren’t losing out compared to neighbouring areas.