Local authorities must have broadband plans in place by the spring

Local authorities must have draft plans in place for rolling-out superfast broadband by the end of February nest year, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today.

These plans will need to be lodged with the Government, and in April 2012 final strategies agreed so that the authorities can get their financial allocation from the £530m broadband pot put in place last December.

Although Hunt said he was "confident" that local authorities would be able to meet the deadlines, areas that fail to do this cannot be guaranteed funding he warned.

The news of the deadlines comes after the Countryside Alliance said last week that rural broadband plans had stalled because local authorities were having difficulty getting their plans together.

Alice Barnard, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance said: "It has been over a year since these pilots were set up and the people who live in areas with no or unreliable broadband coverage haven't seen any improvement."

The organisation has called for Government to simplify the procedure and do more to help authorities put plans in place.

While Hunt agreed that some local authorities "will find these to be challenging targets," a representative for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said help was available

He went on to say that the four pilot projects started last year were already "in procurement" meaning they had put bids out to tender.

"If we didn't believe that most areas are able to meet the deadlines we have set, we wouldn't have made them so tight," the DCMS said

One problem for some local authorities will be finding the match-funding needed. This will o come from their budgets, European programmes or any other source.

If any authority fails to come up with viable plans, the Government said it would consider running a national procurement for those areas not ready by the end of July.

"Superfast broadband is simply too important for creating the growth we need to allow the roll-out to be delayed.... [It] is fundamental to our future economic success. Businesses need it to grow, the public will need it to access new services," said Hunt.