Shrewsbury MP presses Government over gigabit broadband coverage for county
A Shropshire MP has asked the Government to focus on improving rural broadband to truly 'level up' the UK.
Shrewsbury's Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, raised the issue in the House of Commons.
During a question session for the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, he asked about progress in expanding broadband coverage across rural areas.
Data, from May 2021, indicates that broadband speeds in the constituency of Shrewsbury and Atcham are lower than the national average.
As of May 2022, only 24.7 per cent of premises in the constituency had access to gigabit broadband – a line capable of receiving speed of 1 Gbps, compared with 66.6 per cent in the UK as a whole.
The constituency’s average was 54 Mbps compared with 86.5 Mbps in the UK as a whole.
Mr Kawczynski asked what is being done to make improvements across the county of Shropshire.
In response, Julia Lopez minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, said the department’s Mid-West Shropshire procurement is going to be awarded in April to June this year.
Mr Kawczynski followed up by adding: "Obviously, I am delighted that last week we secured nearly £19 million from the levelling-up fund for Shrewsbury town centre, but we will never really have levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom unless rural parts of our constituencies have broadband coverage commensurate with metropolitan areas in coverage and speed. What is she doing specifically to make sure that improvements are made in the county of Shropshire?"
Ms Lopez replied: "My honourable friend is right to talk about the importance of digital connectivity to the whole levelling-up agenda, which is why we are prioritising our procurement to some of the really tough-to-reach parts of the country that have been poorly served by broadband previously.
"I know that he has been campaigning hard on these issues since 2015. He has good superfast coverage now in his constituency, but I appreciate that gigabit is not where it should be in his county. I am pleased to say that our Mid-West Shropshire procurement is going to be awarded in April to June this year, and I hope that his constituents will benefit from that."
