Local Development Framework Consultation

Policy - DM8

I have looked over the draft policy and from Connecting Cumbria’s point of view this is really good and one of the best policies from the point of view of ensuring superfast broadband planning by developers that I have seen so far. The only changes I would have proposed would be:

• The government has redefined Superfast broadband as over 30Mbps – there has always been a range of definitions for superfast, our Connecting Cumbria contract was agreed at the time that the government defined it as over 24Mbps thus we use this measure but the government has since changed to define this as over 30Mbps and this number might be the better one for development team to keep in mind.

• For developments of over 30 properties to be required to demonstrate they had considered the installation of Ultrafast broadband (100Mbps or more) connectivity however this might require a separate policy from that which is applied to smaller developments. I’m uncertain how many projects of this scale are likely to be in contemplation in south lakes in the next few years so focusing on this might not be key but the government is moving to a greater focus on encouraging ultrafast in urban and commercial areas so this may be something to consider at the next policy review.

We would endorse the broadband sections of your policy

Going forward I would be really interested to see how the application of this policy works in practice over the next few years. If it results in more positive expansion of superfast services or if it cause an increased level of complaints/issues from planning applicants that might not have previously considered broadband in their projects. Would it be at all possible to arrange to review this issue with you 6-12months after the policy becomes active?

Kind regards

Cathy