Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Economy & Regeneration

In March 2018, councils in Greater Manchester successfully bid to the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for £23.8m Local Full Fibre Networks funding (LFFN).

This report provides background and information on the Greater Manchester Full Fibre to Premises initiative and an update on this large complex project. The report also seeks a recommendation to support agreements on both financial investment from the Council and the provision of project management, technical, legal and procurement support.

The Cabinet is recommended to:-

·      agree in principle to the participation of the Council in the programme, the DCMS grant funding and signing of the Inter Authority Agreement and Delivery Management Agreement;

·      agree up-front capital investment of £740,000 (described in 5.3 and Appendix A of the report);

·      agree the allocation of staff resources including a project manager (described in 6.2 of the report);

·      delegate to the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration authority to enter into any legal document and to take such other steps as are necessary to facilitate the programme; and

·      delegate to the Head of Legal, Democratic Governance, Estates and Asset Management authority do all things necessary or incidental to the implementation of the above-mentioned resolutions.

Officer contact: Michael Cullen / Caroline Simpson, 0161 474 4631 / 0161 218 1940, michael.cullen@stockport.gov.uk / caroline.simpson@stockport.gov.uk

The Cabinet Member for Economy & Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) updating the Cabinet on the successfully Greater Manchester bid to the Government’s Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport for £23.8m Local Full Fibre Networks funding (LFFN) and inviting the Cabinet to consider proposals for additional support agreements on both financial investment from the Council and the provision of project management, technical, legal and procurement support to implement the programme.

The Cabinet Member emphasised that the programme was public sector led, with ownership of the infrastructure remaining with local councils. This would ensure continuity of provision. The Council would also be able to benefit from increased capacity and lower costs.

The Leader of the Council emphasised the importance of this programme to the Greater Manchester Industrial Strategy and the significant increase in coverage of full fibre broadband.

RESOLVED – That in relation to the Greater Manchester Full Fibre to Premises Programme:

·         agreement in principle be given to the participation of the Council in the programme, the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport grant funding and signing of appropriate Inter-Authority Agreements and Delivery Management Agreement to deliver the programme;

·         approval be given to the ‘up-front’ capital investment of £740,000 (as described in 5.3 and Appendix A of the report);

·         approval be given the allocation of staff resources including a project manager (as described in 6.2 of the report).

·         delegate to the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration authority to enter into any legal document and to take such other steps as were necessary to facilitate the programme;

·         delegate to the Head of Legal, Democratic Governance, Estates and Asset Management authority do all things necessary or incidental to the implementation of the above-mentioned resolutions.

To consider a report of the Borough Treasurer

The report provides information on the Local Full fibre Networks funding programme for which Greater Manchester successfully bid to the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in March 2018. The report also includes recommendations to support agreements on both financial investment from the Council and the provision of project management, technical, legal and procurement support.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Michael Cullen on 0161 474 4631 or email: michael.cullen@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report of the Borough Treasurer and Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration (copies of which had been circulated) providing information on the successful Greater Manchester bid to the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for £23.8m Local Full Fibre Networks funding (LFFN) and proposals for additional support agreements on both financial investment from the Council and the provision of project management, technical, legal and procurement support to implement the programme.

The programme was public sector led, with the ownership of the infrastructure remaining with the local authorities. It would provide state of the art connections to over 1,300 public sector sites across Greater Manchester through the provision of an optical ‘dark’ full fibre network.

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration (Councillor Kate Butler) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

• The Scrutiny Committee generally welcomed the proposals.
• There were many benefits to using ‘dark’ fibre over traditional networks. These included higher capacity and superfast speeds, Dark power also required less power, was more secure and was more immune to interference than traditional networks.
• A Member enquired whether the Council was working in conjunction with the current providers.
• The involvement of Totally Local Company and Life Leisure in the programme was not currently determined.
• The investment in sites in Stockport was broadly in  line with other local authorities in Greater Manchester.
• All of the teams in the Place Directorate were looking to minimise disruption to residents whilst the works took place to install the network.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.