Decision details

The County Council recognises the strategic importance of next generation connectivity that can facilitate the delivery of future public services and improve the local economy. Ultrafast (gigabit) broadband is the next generation of connectivity, capable of delivering speeds of 1Gb (1000Mb) or more using pure optical fibre.  In partnership with all district and boroughs (through the West Sussex Full Fibre Programme Board), the County Council is working to make this infrastructure more readily available.

At its meeting on 18 February 2020 the West Sussex County Council Cabinet endorsed the Leader’s approval of proposals for the allocation of funding from the West Sussex business rate pool. District and Borough Chief Executives and Leaders have agreed allocations for funding from the business rates pool for digital infrastructure projects and initiatives in flight and set to begin imminently.

The Cabinet decision delegated to the Executive Director of Place Services the authority to implement the programme, including any project level key decisions, in consultation with West Sussex Councils’ Chief Executives Group and the Cabinet Member for Economy and Corporate Resources. A project-level key decision is now required to deliver a Converged Fibre Connectivity bid in partnership with Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Executive Director for Place Services has agreed the:

1.   Award of the contract for the design and build of the network to Balfour Beatty via the Scape Framework as set out in section 2.3 of this report; and

2.   Endorsed the approach to commercialise the network as set out in section 2.

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