Issue - meetings

Decision:

1.     Approved the remaining direct investment of £40,000 in shares to Broadband for Surrey Hills Ltd.

2.     Approved a virement of £60,000 from the capital contingency fund to finance the purchase of the shares and provide a budget of £20,000 to support the costs of surveys, mapping and tracer wires required to provide free wayleaves for B4SH.

Reason:

Over the last three years, B4SH has connected over 200 households to ‘hyperfast’ or 1Gbps full symmetric fibre broadband in the Surrey Hills. As we explore and adopt new ways of working due to cultural shifts brought by the pandemic, it becomes increasingly important to ensure our rural communities have access to strong and secure broadband connections. 

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Joss Bigmore declared a non-pecuniary interest with regard to item 7 of the agenda in that he held a shareholder investment in B4SH of £3000.

The Executive considered a report recommending the Council consider investing £40,000 to further support the financing of Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH) through the purchase of shares. The report was introduced by the Lead Councillor for Economy.

Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH) was a not-for-profit organisation working to deploy fibre broadband to rural communities across the Surrey Hills. In 2018, the Council had approved a proposal to invest £10,000 as a shareholder to support B4SH in initiating its rollout and agreed to grant free wayleaves where fibre crosses Council-owned land. The same report had suggested that the Council consider further investments to B4SH of up to £40,000 after its first phase of rollout.

Since 2018, B4SH had been connecting rural residents and businesses at a critical time when the pandemic demanded access to fast and reliable broadband. B4SH had recently approached. The Executive,

RESOLVED:

(1)    That the remaining direct investment of £40,000 in shares to Broadband for Surrey Hills Ltd, be approved.

(2)    That a virement of £60,000 be approved from the capital contingency fund to finance the purchase of the shares and provide a budget of £20,000 to support the costs of surveys, mapping and tracer wires required to provide free wayleaves for B4SH.

Reason:

Over the last three years, B4SH had connected over 200 households to ‘hyperfast’ or 1Gbps full symmetric fibre broadband in the Surrey Hills. As we explore and adopt new ways of working due to cultural shifts brought by the pandemic, it had become increasingly important to ensure our rural communities had access to strong and secure broadband connections. 

Decision:

(1)       That the Council invests the initial sum of £10,000 in Broadband for Surrey Hills Ltd., as described in the report submitted to the Executive.

(2)       That the Council agrees, as a landowner, to provide free wayleaves where B4SH fibre crosses its land, as other landowners have done in support of their communities.

Reason:

This is an opportunity to support a community-led initiative having a mainly social benefit for those parts of the Borough that are currently poorly served by broadband connectivity. Full symmetric fibre broadband will hasten delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy as set out in The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review,create the conditions for the economic transformation of our local rural communities, and facilitate many of the Strategic Priority Objectives set out in the Action and Delivery Plans of the Rural Economic Strategy 2017-2022.

Alternative options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None

The Executive noted that on 23 July 2018 the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published “The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review” as part of its response for delivery of the Industrial Strategy. The Review detailed the changes needed to give the majority of the population access to 5G (the fifth generation of mobile networks)and to connect 15 million premises to full fibre broadband by 2025.

This full-fibre ambition was anticipated in the Council’s Rural Economic Strategy2017-2022, which predicted that rapid changes in technology – in particular around 5G mobile communications pioneered in Guildford at the University of Surrey – would transform daily life in terms of working, learning, travelling, recreation, shopping, and healthcare.  It was also acknowledged that delivery of the Rural Economic Strategy’s Action Plan Priority Infrastructure for Enterprise was reliant on full-fibre broadband as the enabling technology on which the other rural strategic priorities would depend.

The key feature of full-fibre broadband was the level of connectivity that it provided – that is, the capacity of the fibre itself and the data transmission speeds in both download and upload. The ideal capability was full symmetric fibre – where the down and up speeds matched and provided at least 1Gigabit per second (1Gbps) in each direction.

The Executive considered a report on a proposal to provide the Borough’s rural communities with full symmetric fibre. This would exceed the DCMS ambition to provide “next generation Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)” as defined in The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review.

It was proposed that the Council should invest an initial sum of £10,000 in Broadband for Surrey Hills Ltd. (B4SH), whichwas an important first step in an evolving local digital strategy with full fibre as the enabling technology for a range of applications, including Guildford town centre WiFi and LoRa (Long-Range) networks and 5G. All of these supported the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT).  The report invited the Executive to consider, in due course, a higher investment of up to £50,000 after the initial roll out in the Albury/Chilworth area and following evaluation of the first phase.

As well as working closely with the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre, neighbouring Boroughs and Districts and Surrey County Council, officers had contacted Network Rail as a potential delivery partner/provider to facilitate broadband access through its lineside ducts and crossing points along six different rail routes into Guildford.

The Executive was informed that B4SH had been modelled on Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN), which had been very successful.  Key to B4RN’s success had been the negotiation of free wayleaves with landowners.

Incorporation as a Community Benefit Society had already helped B4SH with its own wayleave negotiations, receiving active support from the Duke of Northumberland’s Albury Estate. As joint managers of the public open access parts of the Albury Estate, Surrey County Council and Surrey Wildlife Trust had also been, together with Natural England, helpful parties in the wayleave discussions to date with local landowners.

The Future  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32