Milton Keynes North MP Ben Everitt is pleased a £5 billion broadband upgrade will see a further Gigabit boost to rural properties in Milton Keynes from next year.
The government’s Project Gigabit fund to upgrade digital infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas will accelerate the country’s recovery from covid, fire up high-growth sectors such as tech and the creative industries, put an end to families battling for bandwidth and bring the speed and reliability people need to start and run businesses.
New details released today reveal up to 1,850,000 additional premises across 26 English counties will get access to gigabit speed internet of 1,000 megabits per second - enough to download a HD movie in less than 30 seconds and lay the foundations for next-generation tech such as 8K-quality video streaming.
Milton Keynes has been included in a lot with Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire and the project will include upwards of £85m in Government funding, with procurement set to begin in August 2022.
Ben will be pushing for Hanslope and Castlethorpe to receive Gigabit broadband after speaking with local Conservative councillors about broadband coverage in those villages.
Official statistics show Hanslope, Castlethorpe and Sherington have just 26.2% coverage of Gigabit broadband, the lowest in Milton Keynes North, while 91.7% of properties can get Superfast broadband.
Residents can also check if they're eligible for free vouchers from the Government worth up to £1,500 to get Gigabit broadband installed into their homes as part of a scheme to provide immediate help for people experiencing slow broadband speeds in rural areas. Properties in Hanslope and Castlethorpe are eligible for this scheme.
Put your postcode into this link and it will tell you if you're eligible for a voucher: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/.
Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, said: "While I'm happy 97.2% of homes in Milton Keynes North have access to Superfast broadband and 82.8% have access to Gigabit broadband, the numbers still aren't good enough for our rural areas.
"I have spoken to the local councillors for Newport Pagnell North & Hanslope to discuss concerns around slow broadband in Hanslope and Castlethorpe and would encourage residents to check if they're eligible for a £1,500 Gigabit broadband voucher.
"In the longer term I'm pleased to see the Government continuing to invest in Gigabit broadband with a plan to connect at least 85% of the UK to Gigabit broadband by 2025."
