Decision
(i) That
authority be delegated to the lead member for Economic Growth & Skills in
consultation with the lead member of Corporate Development & Change and the
Executive Directors for Place and Corporate Development to approve Change Control(s)
under the Superfast Dorset Phase 3 Ultrafast contract to incorporate funding
derived from the DEFRA Rural Broadband Infrastructure grant award, released
from in life contractual changes and from current programme underspends into
the existing contract, to the contracted maximum public funding contribution of
£8.9m
(ii) Note
that the Change Control process requires that the proposal(s) from BT (Openreach) described above would be subject to central
government assurance (Building Digital UK and Rural Payments Agency for DEFRA)
and Dorset Council’s own assurance (to include Superfast Dorset, Finance and
Legal consultation) prior to seeking to enter into contract.
(iii) Notes
that the values presented within the report to Cabinet on 3 September 2019 were
subject to finalisation within the contractual limits specified under
recommendation (i) above.
Reason for
the Decision
To further the Council’s
corporate plan focus on Enabling Economic Growth through maximising the level of
external funding drawn into Dorset to extend the provision of superfast
broadband services to rural areas.
Central
government commissioned research suggests that a £1 investment in NGA broadband
returns a £20 increase in GVA for the local economy.