Letter: Short-changed fear on broadband cash
I'm grateful for the recent coverage given by your paper on our campaign's concern about the possibility of the county being short-changed by Shropshire Council on money for rural broadband.
Your reporter did get one point wrong, however, when he said that the full £11 million grant can only be accessed if matched pound for pound.
The point we were making was that we were surprised that, unlike other local authorities, Shropshire Council has successfully argued to be treated differently by Government and can keep the full grant whether or not they fully match it.
This means that if the council decides not to fully match, the potential shortfall of £6 million places its residents and business at a distinct disadvantage by comparison with other counties that do have to fully match.
On the same page that day the Star reported widely on the forthcoming mobile phone summit, another extremely important topic. You explained that Shropshire is not pleading to be a special case, but is simply asking not to be treated as second class citizens.
How ironic that the Shropshire Council has secured special case status for broadband funding in order that people can be treated as second class citizens.
Patrick Cosgrove, Shropshire and Marches Campaign for Better Broadband in Rural Areas
