The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Built Environment on the proposals for the development and delivery of the Merseyside Local Broadband Plan in conjunction with the Councils of Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens and Wirral.
This was a Key Decision and was included in the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.
RESOLVED: That
(1) approval be given to the formal submission of the Merseyside Local Broadband Plan in April 2012 as required by Broadband UK (BDUK);
(2) approval in principle be given to Sefton Council seeking to investigate funding sources for its element of the BDUK match contribution, to facilitate the submission of the Merseyside Local Broadband Plan. However it should be noted, that at this stage, Sefton’s share of the match funding cannot currently be guaranteed by the Council;
(3) the Merseyside Phasing In Sub-Committee and the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership be requested to re-consider their earlier decisions not to give European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding priority to the Broadband project;
(4) approval be given to the submission of an application for Regional Growth Fund (Round 3) towards the funding of the Broadband project as a potential replacement for ERDF Match Funding. However, should this not be forthcoming, the Council’s continued involvement in the project would need to be re-considered by the Cabinet;
(5) in conjunction with the other four Merseyside authorities, the Merseyside BDUK Steering Group be formalised to develop and deliver the Merseyside Local Broadband Plan;
(6) the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Housing be given delegated authority to make necessary decisions on the submission of the Local Broadband Plan before the end of April 2012; and
(7) a further report be submitted to the Cabinet providing details of the financial implications of delivering the Local Broadband Plan over the life of the project.