Jeremy Hunt sets deadline for fibre broadband draft plans

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said local authorities must submit their draft fibre optic broadband plans by the end of next February.

The announcement came as Mr Hunt outlined a timetable that must be adopted by councils across England in order to help the government achieve its goal of delivering the best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015.

Drafts must be handed in on time for local authorities to receive their allocation of state funding to help finance their fibre broadband rollout projects.

Once the broadband plans have been submitted, final proposals must be agreed between councils and the government.

"Super-fast broadband is simply too important for creating the growth we need to allow the rollout to be delayed," commented Mr Hunt.

In August, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport revealed English counties have been handed a combined £294.8 million to pay for their broadband deployments, while Scotland has been allocated £68.8 million.