Broadband and bus routes drive growth
IMPROVED bus services and broadband speeds are key to business growth, councillors have claimed.
Durham County Council’s Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard an update on regional funding for Durham.
This included the Local Growth Fund for 2015 - 2021 - a £270million pot that aims to boost jobs in the North East.
In the final round of LGF funding, County Durham did not benefit from any direct investment with £41m going to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sunderland.
Despite this, underspent funds were made available and bids reconsidered, with final grants to be agreed for Durham’s Jade Business Park and Integra 61 project.
The investment will form part of wider plans to improve transport infrastructure and create thousands of jobs - which range from a bid for a new rail station serving Horden to the Aykley Heads business park.
Councillors claimed broadband connectivity and bus service problems could stand in the way of this.
Committee chairman Alison Batey, said the issues could be seen during recent spates of extreme weather.
“The Beast from the East was a bit of an eye opener, people wanted to work from home but didn’t have the connectivity to do that,” she said.
Coun Ted Henderson added improved bus services and broadband speeds were needed residents in rural areas of County Durham.
“They need faster broadband and unless we’re going to try and provide them with both you may as well cut off the south west completely,” he said.
While a ‘Digital Durham’ scheme has been under way aiming to extend broadband to an extra 16,000 homes by the end of 2019, the future of broadband rollout remains uncertain after the scheme comes to an end.
Co-opted member Rosemary Dunn stressed broadband improvements would help make the county “investment ready” for larger industrial firms.
Coun Stuart Dunn added bus services need to be both available and affordable for under 25s.
Coun Rob Crute also called for a “county-wide” scheme to help improve future investment in the borough.
He added that deregulation of bus services is an issue, with private firms failing to run services that are not economically viable.
“We’re entering a new phase where we’re hoping to move up the skills need in the county,” he said. “Let’s not forget we need to get the transport links right aswell.”
Future plans for attracting growth in County Durham include a ‘Investment Pipeline’ to help identify funding opportunities early and develop business cases.
Upcoming funding streams include the UK Shared Prosperity Fund replacing money local areas receive from the European Union.