Farron calls for local to join broadband campaign as local champions

Local MP Tim Farron is encouraging local residents to get involved in the campaign to secure better broadband for the South Lakes.

Recently Cumbria County Council received an extra £6.7 million to add the £17.1 million they had already had pledged from the government to build a superfast rural broadband network.

Tim has raised concerns about the three organisations which have been short listed by the county council to help bring better broadband to the county. A wide range of interested companies have been whittled down to just three: BT, Cable and Wireless and Fujitsu. These are three multinational companies, but many experts had hoped that there would be more scope for smaller, community enterprises to bid into this money.

In an attempt to secure the fast broadband thatCumbriadeserves, Tim is campaigning for people to put themselves forward as broadband champions for their parish.

Across the South Lakes in places like Levens Tim still needs people to come forward and join the campaign for better broadband.

Tim said, "It is completely unacceptable for large areas of Cumbria to still be left without broadband. We need it to grow our economy and help businesses provide the well paid jobs of tomorrow. It will also help us provide better rural services. This is why it is so important to have parish representatives acting as broadband champions who can passionately and effectively lead the campaign to get our broadband to the right standard. If your community does not have a local champion please put yourself forward and we'll get you into the campaign right away!"