The county of Cumbria has received an unexpected cash boost to supply fast broadband to communities.
The Department of Culture Media and Sport has allocated almost £17m to Cumbria which came from the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office.
The BDUK aims to give 90 per cent of residents in rural areas access to high speed broadband by 2015.
MPs for the area have been lobbying for a long time to secure the money and the funding given is much higher than the originally intended amount of £5 to £10m.
The MP for Penrith, Rory Stewart said:
“When I went to see the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, in July last year to ask him for money for a broadband pilot in Cumbria, he told me that we were very unlikely to get any.
“But in October, the Chancellor announced that Cumbria would be a fourth national broadband pilot and promised us £5 – 10m.
“I’ve put in a year of work and more than 100 meetings to secure this money for Cumbria.
“I’m really delighted that the final sum is even more than we were originally promised.”
