TELECOMS Minister Chris Bryant has updated West Somerset MP Rachel Gilmour on the latest position with the delivery of superfast broadband to rural homes and businesses.

Mr Bryant said the Government’s Project Gigabit rollout across Mrs Gilmour’s Tiverton and Minehead constituency should see 5,400 premises benefit from contracts being awarded to OpenReach.

They include properties in Stogursey, Westleigh, Oakford, Burlescombe, Milverton, Lydeard St Lawrence, Bishops Lydeard, Nynehead, and Holford.

The Minister also confirmed homes and businesses which OpenReach were unable to connect would be offered up to £4,500 of gigabit broadband vouchers to spend on other ways of improving their broadband.

Mrs Gilmour said: “I know today’s update from the Minister will be welcomed by communities all over the Tiverton and Minehead constituency.

“So many people have been let down by previous contract failures and scale backs, and so I am glad to hear our rural areas are set to receive improved broadband connection speeds.

“Efficient broadband is crucial to modern life, and I will continue to work in Parliament on behalf of my constituents to ensure that communities can access fast fibre broadband as soon as possible.”

Mrs Gilmour said data from ThinkBroadband showed the constituency suffered six per cent poorer superfast broadband speeds than the national average.

Only 49 per cent of premises had gigabit-capable broadband, better or equal to 1,000 Mbps, which was considerably lower than the national average of 87 per cent.

Mrs Gilmour’s meeting with Mr Bryant came after a catalogue of failures by broadband agency Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS), which was supposed to oversee the delivery of full fibre to hard to reach premises in the two counties.

Most recently, Airband UK admitted last autumn it could only deliver to fewer than half the 55,000 properties it was contracted to connect in West Somerset, Exmoor, and outside Wellington.