Exchange of emails with Keri Denton following BT Press Release

On March 5, 2014, BT put out a press release announcing the additional £22.75M BDUK rural broadband extension funding for Devon and Somerset and giving the impression that BT would be getting that money as an extension of the existing CDS funded programme. On March 6 an email was sent to people interested in rural broadband, copied to Keri Denton and Andrew Leadbetter. Keri Denton replied to this email on March 7 on behalf of the CDS Board (See note at bottom of page). A response to this email was sent on March 11. So far no reply has been received to the email of March 11. Readers are invited to come to their own conclusions about this exchange of emails.

Email 3: A reply to the CD&S Board (No response so far received)

From: Graham Long

To: Keri Denton

Cc: John Cornish ; Emily McGuinness ; Paul Diviani ; Mark Williams ; Kerry Kennell ; Cllr T J R Wood ; JENKINS, Timothy ; PARISH, Neil ; Cllr Phillip Twiss ; ian.thomas@trinitymatters.co.uk ; MULLINS, Jessica M ; Liz Parks ; Patrick Cosgrove ; David Thorne ; Ian Firth ; Rod Boyce ; Steve Horner ; Peter Naylor ; martin@playways.co.uk ; Bishopsteignton Residents Group ; vyvgame@gmail.com ; John Macnab ; Linda & Richard Price ; Graham Salmon ; Michael Canham ; Chris and Jane Hunt ; Susanne Edwards

Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 11:02 AM

Subject: Re: Will another £22.75M be handed over to BT?

For the attention of the Connecting Devon & Somerset Board

Dear Keri,

Thank you for your reply to my email of March 5.

In the absence of fact, there is only fiction. Fiction is what CD&S has forced taxpayers in rural Devon and Somerset to speculate on because of the absence of facts about what will or will not be delivered by the existing CD&S contract signed with BT in January 2013.

You may well consider my email to be emotional, spurious, unhelpful and sensational (to use your words) but this is reality for the people you claim to serve. I went to some lengths when we met in Upottery, Feb 7, to demonstrate that other English County Councils, bound by the same strictures from BT that you have been bound by, are able to publish detailed deployment plans (e.g. Superfast Northamptonshire), but you and BT persist in denying the people of Devon and Somerset information about the 11 phase BT deployment plan for superfast broadband in our two counties funded significantly more generously than is Northamptonshire. You assert that the risk associated with putting detailed deployment data in the public domain is too great since it may create unnecessary concern and cause people to make wrong decisions about their futures.

Your risk aversion may be laudable but consider the risk that not publishing detailed deployment information is creating for families and businesses and which you do not see. The risk, for instance, of jobs in rural areas being lost, such as those at a business in a nearby parish to me, after they announced last week that the business will be relocating to Tiverton, because it cannot cope with the poor BT broadband service it currently receives and the uncertainty created by refusing to give any indication when that may be resolved.

Laurent Boon of BT stated at our public meeting on February 7, that “It is unlikely that Upottery will get a superfast broadband service as a result of the current programme”. He and you still refuse to identify the “final 10%, hard to reach areas”, 14 months into a 48 month project and so businesses will leave rural areas because they must conclude, in the absence of the facts from you, that all white areas on your final coverage map must be treated as if they are in the final 10%, even though we all know some of them won’t!

We all deal with uncertainty every day and whilst your desire to shield the public from the inherent risk that the CD&S/BT deployment plans may change over the next three years, that is simply creating more uncertainty for larger numbers of people than is necessary. We are all adults and we can cope with uncertainty – we all do it every day!

On January 16, 2014, you told the EDDC/SSDC Joint Scrutiny Panel that Councils who sign an NDA will receive detailed project data on implementation plans by postcode for the 11 phases of the CD&S contract. This is the information that Devon & Somerset taxpayers, who are funding your programme, also have a right to see. It is immensely disrespectful of you to tell the people of Devon & Somerset that it is better for them to have no information for fear that, were they to have some information, they would make the wrong decisions.

Last week, in an email to Upottery Parish Council, Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the all party Public Accounts Committee said, "The lack of transparency over BT’s contracts to provide rural broadband is bad for local communities and it is bad for the taxpayer. It is not acceptable that people are denied information about whether or not they are going to receive superfast broadband and it means alternative providers who could fill the gap cannot get a look in. During the course of the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into rural broadband I have noted the vital role that parish councils have been playing in fighting to ensure their communities are not left behind. I really hope your efforts in Devon and Somerset pay off and am happy to lend my support to your campaign."

In front of the PAC, January 27, 2014, Sean Williams, BT’s MD told Margaret Hodge MP that BT is not preventing Councils from making public the full deployment details for rural Superfast Broadband Projects. Whilst waving a sheaf of letters from people in rural counties across the UK in front of Mr Williams, complaining that their County Council is not putting this information in the public domain, Margaret Hodge said “somebody is not telling the truth here”. Those of us in rural Devon & Somerset can only come to the same conclusion since Cllr Andrew Leadbetter said at the Feb 7 public meeting in Upottery, that CD&S were not prepared to take the risk of putting themselves in a position where they might be sued by BT by sharing detailed implementation plans with the taxpayers of Devon and Somerset.

Obviously it is pleasing to hear that CD&S intends to take up the £22.75M broadband extension fund allocation on March 25, with the aim of confirming match funding by June 30 as required by BDUK. I know it will not be simple to find the match funds, but there are currently a number of private investors keen to invest in UK infrastructure (e.g. Legal & General Infrastructure Investment) and we all wish you every success in confirming match funding, although I am concerned that you ruled out equity funding when we spoke last week. It is iniquitous that BDUK are currently requiring 1:1 match funding for the extension allocation whilst the initial allocation of £33.72M, which is funding the current BT contract, only had to be matched at 60p in the £1. Whilst I know this was because CD&S acted as a pilot for BDUK, it is wrong that the extension allocation, which is for deploying superfast broadband in “more difficult to reach areas” should require match funding at a higher rate than was the case for superfast broadband deployment in much more densely populated towns and villages. BDUK, Maria Miller MP must accommodate this and I call on all Devon and Somerset MP’s and all Councils to urgently lobby the government to this end.

You have confirmed that BDUK extension funding will not be used to extend the existing CD&S contract with BT, which is good to hear and that instead you will either (a) set up a new procurement contract with BT or another supplier; or (b) start a new open market tender/procurement process to find supplier(s) for the extension programme. Whilst it is expected that BT will be keen to win the new contract, it is important, as Maria Miller MP stated in her letter to County Council Chief Executives in July 2013, that any new contract, irrespective of which supplier is chosen, is not subject to a Non Disclosure Clause with the supplier and that full details of the subsequent deployment work, part funded by public funds, are placed in the public domain. I would be grateful if would confirm this.

I would point out to you that whilst websites for other County Council Superfast Broadband projects have carried updates of how those Council project teams are responding to the BDUK extension funding allocations since BDUK announced them on February 25, the CD&S website is notable for making no reference to the fact that the allocation has been made or what CD&S are doing to secure it and procure match funding and identify suppliers. Were you to share this information with your taxpayers via website updates, you would not be receiving the numerous emails you are receiving requesting clarification. Once again, in the absence of fact, all that your tax payers have is fiction and that is unacceptable.

Sincerely,