Rural broadband stalled, says Countryside Alliance
The Countryside Alliance says plans to bring fast broadband to rural areas have stalled.
The government named four pilot areas last year, but local councils have admitted that they have not yet started work on their broadband projects.
Freedom of information requests were sent to councils in each area.
The responses revealed that none had received any money from the Treasury, chosen a company to build their networks, or started work on them.
In October last year George Osborne named Cumbria, Herefordshire, North Yorkshire and the Highlands and Islands, as pilot areas for rural superfast broadband networks.
The Countryside Alliance says that unless the whole process is simplified, the digital divide will keep growing and the money pledged will be all but worthless.
A government spokesman said all four pilot projects were making good progress, and ministers remained confident that Britain would have Europe’s best broadband network by 2015.
