Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Portfolio Holder(s) for Corporate Development & Change and Economic Growth & Skills.

Decision

(a)       That the creation of a full business case to accelerate the deployment of full fibre and wireless / mobile connectivity predominately in the rural parts of the Dorset Council area, be supported;

(b)       That the Dorset Council budgetary commitment of up to £1m capital (from the Ringfenced Superfast Broadband budget) and revenue implementation commitment of £285k (funded from the Dorset Council Transformation fund) to leverage in external capital and commercial investment of up to £8.9m, be agreed;

(c)        That the commencement of the required public procurements be agreed;

(d)       That authority be delegated  to the portfolio holder for Corporate Development, in consultation with the Executive Director of Place, to submit a full business case, procure and award services and enter into the necessary grant agreements to deliver this programme of activity;

(d)       That the unusually short timescales involved in developing these proposals, and the importance of responding and mobilising quickly to meet delivery deadlines to facilitate economic recovery from the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic be noted.

Reason for the Decision

To enable the business case process to be submitted, complete due diligence and to facilitate the quickest possible deployment by March 2022.

In presenting the report the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Development advised that there was one minor amendment at page 25 of the papers. The following sentence “funded from Dorset Council transformation fund” should be in the box below within the table on the page. This amendment did not change the recommendation before members.

The report related to the acceleration of existing Government funded capital projects, to generate new activity within 18 months, to help create jobs and raise overall demand in the economy.  Members were advised that the funding available was set out within the Covid Recovery Infrastructure Fund and this would be managed through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP). This did cause some concern due to past funding allocations from the LEP. It was important that LEP gave a fair deal to Dorset Council and it was hoped that the Dorset LEP would adopt a more strategic and whole county approach moving forward.

The business case was in rapid development for bringing multiple interventions together under one programme that would accelerate activity and close the digital connectivity gap, ensure continuing progress in Dorset in the next 18 months or so, before the next major full fibre government intervention programme began to be delivered during 2022 and beyond.

The report outlined progress to date, addressed high-level budget issues and sought to delegate decisions to enable the work to progress against very tight timescales. In proposing the recommendation, the Portfolio Holder proposed a minor amendment to recommendation (b) and this was accepted by Cabinet.

Decision

(a)       That the creation of a full business case to accelerate the deployment of full fibre and wireless / mobile connectivity predominately in the rural parts of the Dorset Council area, be supported;

(b)       That the Dorset Council budgetary commitment of up to £1m capital (from the Ringfenced Superfast Broadband budget) and revenue implementation commitment of £285k (funded from the Dorset Council Transformation fund) to leverage in external capital and commercial investment of up to £8.9m, be agreed;

(c)        That the commencement of the required public procurements be agreed;

(d)       That authority be delegated  to the portfolio holder for Corporate Development, in consultation with the Executive Director of Place, to submit a full business case, procure and award services and enter into the necessary grant agreements to deliver this programme of activity;

(d)       That the unusually short timescales involved in developing these proposals, and the importance of responding and mobilising quickly to meet delivery deadlines to facilitate economic recovery from the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic be noted.

Reason for the Decision

To enable the business case process to be submitted, complete due diligence and to facilitate the quickest possible deployment by March 2022.