Connecting residents in this digital age

There’s no doubt that rural communities have fewer options for fast, reliable broadband. To tackle this, we’ve helped communities to empower themselves to get gigabit-capable broadband through the government’s national gigabit broadband voucher scheme. We’ve ‘topped up’ the value of each eligible voucher to help an extra 10,000 homes and businesses get connected sooner than if left to commercial suppliers to invest. We’ve secured an additional £6.1m of Government funding in this way and are in the top three of all counties for vouchers issued via the national scheme.

We are determined to help businesses in these challenging times and an innovative project is taking off at six, specially-chosen sites. Connected Spaces Wi-Fi will bring free and publicly-available Wi-Fi to Arundel High Street, areas of Tilgate Park, Cuckfield Recreation Ground, Selsey’s East Beach, Steyne Gardens in Worthing and Steyning High Street. Wi-Fi will enable traders and businesses to take electronic payments by card, encourage visitors to promote and share their experiences online and support live streaming of special events. It’s a good example of how we are working with our district and borough councils to provide digital infrastructure to help boost the visitor economy county-wide.

Another success story is a fully connected fibre broadband network at the Weald and Downland Museum, home of the BBC’s Repair Shop. The popular outdoors museum in Singleton brings history to life and now has state-of-the-art technology backing its activities to improve the offer for visitors. We helped it to win Government funding and procure a broadband provider to build their new services.

Digital connectivity is also mobile, and the Government has a target of 95% coverage of 4G mobile services across the UK by 2025. All West Sussex Councils are joining up to encourage mobile network operators to increase 4G capacity and tackle mobile ‘not spots’. Using radio receivers on the county’s refuse lorries, we’ve mapped 4G coverage where EE, O2, Vodafone and Three have services for homes and businesses.

We are also jointly mapping our council-owned land and assets to have positive conversations with operators about where to invest in the county’s telecommunications network. We’re taking this work forward in a national pilot project for which we have won central Government funding to develop a digital asset management platform to share with mobile operators.

If you’d like help to get online, do visit our local libraries for a helping hand and for free access to computers with internet access, email services and Microsoft Office applications. Library members can use the computers for free, for a maximum of two hours per day. If you are not yet a library member, it’s free and easy to sign up in your local library or register online.

Online safety is vital and our “Get Safe Online” Digital Ambassadors are ready to help. Twenty-four fully trained Digital Ambassadors can offer residents 1-2-1 sessions at a local library, or talk to community groups about all things digital. Contact: 0330 222 3185 or email [email protected].

To find out more about WSCC and its wide range of services and support by visiting westsussex.gov.uk