Government proposes ‘voucher priority areas’ as solution to disruptions caused by Project Gigabit

The UK government has proposed ‘voucher priority areas’ as a solution to the disruption caused by the new £5bn Project Gigabit programme in parts of Northumberland and Cumbria.

The solution was revealed by Michael Lee, CEO of ISP B4RN. B4RN, along with many other alternative network providers, are taking advantage of millions of pounds worth of vouchers in order to extend their fibre-to-the-premises networks in remote areas.

However, B4RN warned recently that the government’s move to pause the voucher scheme in Cumberland and Northumbria, put their entire project at risk.

B4RN had previously stated that they had been given assurance that they would be able to build in these areas using vouchers until the government’s regional contractors had completed their builds in uncontested areas.

However, B4RN subsequently found out that a large chunk of the areas they’d intended to build in over the next five years were to be “included in the initial procurement” for regional suppliers as part of Project Gigabit. This includes “many areas where B4RN is already actively engaged with communities and where planning for a voucher funded build is well underway”.

B4RN CEO, Michael Lee, said: “Today DCMS announced that they will be identifying ‘Voucher Priority Areas’ within the procurement scope of Project Gigabit. Within these areas, voucher applications will remain open during the Project Gigabit procurement process. This is an important change which should go a significant way to mitigating the impact of the 24th September deadline and enable far greater continuity of delivery across B4RN projects.

“We will be working hard with DCMS over the next few weeks to identify which B4RN communities can be included in ‘Voucher Priority Areas’. Once we have a clear picture across all of our affected projects I will write to each project individually.

“I have no doubt that this positive change is a direct result of the vocal and heartfelt support for B4RN that has come from all of our communities over the last few months – thank you.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, said: “We have listened to people’s concerns and are working closely with B4RN and other suppliers to make vouchers available for projects we think will result in more premises being connected sooner … No eligible home or business will miss out on funding, through either a voucher or Project Gigabit contract.”