Issue - meetings

To consider a report from the Director for Digital & Resources, a copy is attached as item 8.

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Digital & Resources, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 8. 

The report provided an update on the progress made to deliver next generation digital infrastructure across Adur and Worthing council areas - providing widespread ultrafast internet access to homes, businesses and public spaces, creating the most digitally connected places in the south east.  

The commercial roll out of fibre to homes and businesses by Cityfibre was progressing well and was on schedule with more than 3,000 homes passed to date.

The report focused on the next stage in the programme which was to provide free Citizen WiFi and an “internet of things” (IoT) network.  These were key deliverables in Platforms for our Places and had even greater importance for the post COVID-19 world, where digital connectivity would play a greater part in everyone's lives.  

Providing council-run Citizen WiFi to residents and visitors in key public places would put Adur and Worthing in a really strong position to innovate in high street renewal, tourism, creative and digital arts, local business growth and to provide essential access to the digitally excluded.  The Councils had become regional leaders in digital infrastructure and with Citizen Wifi and IoT networks, they would add two new highly valuable layers to the civic digital platform.

The Committee welcomed the report and expressed their support for the proposals. 

The recommendations in the report were proposed by Councillor Daniel Humphreys, seconded by Councillor Edward Crouch and unanimously agreed by the Committee.

Decision:  

The Joint Strategic Committee: 

        i.         approved a revised capital budget of £3.7m, the increase being funded through external funding, the revenue consequences of which could be accommodated within the existing budgets;

       ii.         noted that a procurement for Citizen Wi-Fi would be undertaken once the design lab (see 1.5) was complete;

      iii.         approved a budget of £25k in 2020-21, funded from the inflation budget, which would enable the Councils to exploit opportunities in 2020-21 to commence design and pilot testing of Citizen Wi-Fi. This approval would be on the basis that the Councils’ return to the Joint Strategic Committee in 2021-22 to update on the progress and status of network consolidation to reduce costs, and revenue generating activities that aimed to address the revenue impact of Citizen WiFi expansion from 2022-23 onwards;

      iv.         approved the release of £300k in the period 2021/22 - 2024/25, noting that this would commit the Council to additional £75,000 funding in 2021/22 as previously outlined in the report to members on the 2020/21 budget which would enable the contract to progress.

Call In: 

The call-in deadline for this decision will be 5.00pm on 19 June 2020.