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Chancellor announces £10 million to extend superfast broadband across North Wales

News Release issued by the COI News Distribution Service on 10 February 2011

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, today announced that £10 million of funding will be allocated to support the early phases of superfast broadband in Wales.

The funding will help to deliver the roll out of Next Generation Broadband in Pwllheli and surrounding areas of North Wales as part of the Welsh Assembly Govt's national delivery plan for all of Wales.

The announcement was made while the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Wales visited a JCB factory in Wrexham. While there JCB also announced that it was signing a new contract for 350 vehicles with a UK business and that it was creating and recruiting for over 80 new engineering positions within JCB nationally.

Visiting Wrexham the Chancellor said:

"Having seen the potential growth opportunities in Wrexham today I am pleased to announce £10 million additional funding for Wales that will support the extension of superfast broadband to Pwllheli and the surrounding areas. This funding will support the Welsh economy and help drive the private sector-led recovery by driving innovation and commercial opportunities in communities across Wales.

"This is just the first wave of funding for Wales from the over half a billion pounds we have already set aside to extend superfast broadband across the UK".

Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan said:

"Today's announcement shows this Government's commitment that Wales is at the heart of our plans to ensure that UK has the best superfast network in Europe by 2015. For this to work we need to test innovative approaches that bring broadband to hard-to-reach areas and today's announcement of funding to extend superfast broadband to Pwllheli and the surrounding areas of North Wales will do just that. We are committed to working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government to delivering this project in north west Wales."

Notes for Editors

1. Spending Review 2010 announced that £530 million will be invested over the Spending Review period to support the UK's broadband network and to incentivise the roll out of superfast broadband in areas that the private sector would not otherwise reach. This £10m is just the first wave of funding that Wales will receive.

2. JCB today launched a recruitment drive for up to 80 engineers in the UK. The vacancies are across all the company's sites in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wales.

3. JCB have also announced today that they have secured a deal worth almost £14 million to supply a fleet of 350 machines to a leading UK plant hire companies Kent based H.E. SERVICES Group.

4. For further information on the JCB announcements please see their press releases at:
http://www.jcb.com/presscentre/pressreleases.aspx

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