West Worcestershire Harriett Baldwin has welcomed the second phase of a project to upgrade much of the county broadband network. The second phase of this roll out was confirmed by Worcestershire County Council today (March 19) and will see superfast broadband reach more than 20 additional villages between October and December. The county council has been working on a plan to deliver superfast broadband to most homes and businesses by the middle of 2016 and the latest villages confirmed to get connected include Elmley Castle, Great Witley, Hanley Swan, Kempsey, Knightwick, Leigh Sinton, Powick and Wichenford. This follows the upgrade of Hallow, Ashton-under-Hill and Eckington as well as the commercial roll-out in Malvern and Pershore. Harriett has been a long-time campaigner for proper connection for the rural towns and villages in her West Worcestershire constituency and has met with successive Culture Secretaries and senior BT directors to push for a swift resolution of this issue. Harriett commented: “I know that many communities will be delighted to see this latest list of areas for upgrade. “I welcome this announcement but I hope that the project stays on track and delivers to the high expectations we all have. “Broadband is becoming an increasingly important resource for homes and businesses as we do more and more tasks online. “Getting our rural communities connected has been one of my key aims over the last four years as an MP and I am pleased to see that we are making steady progress.”