West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has welcomed plans which will see rural communities across the county get access to top-of-the-range broadband connections.

The Government has confirmed that Worcestershire will be one of the first counties to be upgraded, with up to £84 million allocated to reach 51,400 homes.

Project Gigabit will support further upgrade of communities which have been hard-to-reach and often left out of the commercial broadband rollout programme.

Premises connected as part of this project are expected to access internet speeds of 1000 megabits per second. Work is expected to start in May next year.

Harriett commented:

“Broadband has been a long-standing, thorny issue for some of the very rural communities in West Worcestershire and although many homes already have good internet connections, a worryingly large number still report to me that they are struggling with slow speeds.

“The pandemic has shown us how vital a good internet connection is, so I welcome this extra investment to bring everyone up to the same speed where possible.

“I will be looking forward to seeing the detail on this project to see how and where this money will be spent. It really is essential that people, wherever they live, are able to access a decent internet connection and a reliable mobile phone signal.

“I hope this is a further step towards that essential goal as we build back better as the impact of the pandemic recedes.”