Back in February, I invited Ed Vaizey MP, the Minister for Culture & the Digital Economy to visit Corby, to meet with representatives of local businesses affected by broadband difficulties on the town's industrial estates - in particular, the CorbyGate Business Park, where a number of the businesses were having great difficulties in successfully undertaking basic day-to-day tasks, as a result of slow broadband speeds.
After the meeting, I also raised with the Minister some of the concerns being brought to me about access to high-speed broadband in our rural communities.
Following on from this visit, the Minister kindly organised a meeting at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, where Corby Business Group members were able to put their concerns to senior BT executives and departmental officials.
As such, I am delighted to be able to report that in light of this meeting, in the last few weeks, Northamptonshire has secured over £8m of new investment from Government, including over £6m from the Broadband Delivery (BDUK) programme, and £2m to enhance business connectivity through the Local Growth Fund.
And, in particular, it is terrific news that a privately funded solution has been found to the CorbyGate Business Park problem, with WarwickNet rolling-out high-speed broadband on the estate. Previously, businesses here could rely on just one or two megabits (Mbits) of broadband capacity, but the cabinets put in place by WarwickNet will significantly boost performance, with speeds starting at 40Mbits.
I really am delighted that a solution has been found to the CorbyGate problem - it is testament to the Corby Business Group's excellent campaign and at least now, those who work here won't have to go home to send off important documents!
Going forward, rest assured that I will continue to campaign hard to ensure that high-speed broadband provision is rolled out as quickly as possible across the constituency and to ensure that we receive a sizeable chunk of this new funding.