‘The only way to truly level up Britain is to connect communities’

COMMENT Connectivity is key to jobs, performance and investment, but also for education, health and social care. If one region is more connected than others then we as a nation have failed in our mission to level up. This cannot be fixed overnight. There are still some parts of the UK that have little to no connection at all – the notorious not-spots, mainly confined to rural areas. These will need to be fixed if we want to regain our place as a world leader in infrastructure and support the notion of hybrid working supporting (rather than hampering) increased productivity. Our latest research, in partnership with YouGov, found that 15% of consumers said they had inconsistent signal strength in their house on a daily basis. Delving deeper, we found there were several key challenges that were hampering the rollout – most notably a major lack of understanding of 5G and gigabit – by MPs, consumers and councillors: a lack of funding; an unhelpful planning process; and not enough collaboration between local authorities, landowners and digital infrastructure providers – the latter of which needs a boost to align our digital ambitions. Councillors reporting that their local authority had a digital strategy in place (less than half according to our findings) were four times more likely to say their authority has an effective relationship with electronic communications network operators and are doing enough to smooth the way for communications infrastructure rollout and equipment. They were also three times more likely to believe they have the information they need to raise awareness and understanding, and to promote and improve connectivity as a priority for the local area. Less than a third have appointed a “digital champion”. Will we find ourselves in the situation where a postcode lottery emerges and those who live in an area that is supported by a digital champion may well benefit from better connectivity thanks to know-how and more effective telecoms relationships? This is not in the spirit of levelling up, which aims to ensure that where you live does not limit your opportunities. But if connectivity is critical to jobs, investment and education, for example, then the most connected regions will perform better and more regional gaps will develop. Therefore, connecting the UK must be a priority and we would like to see a much bigger proportion of levelling up funds diverted to the crucial development of infrastructure in order to make this happen. Not only will we be sharing our findings across the industry, with local authorities and key stakeholders, in the spirit of much-needed collaboration we will also be gathering together a group of experts to form recommendations that aim to provide solutions. Connectivity affects everyone but we believe the property industry can play a crucial role in helping the government navigate these challenges. As per the Public Accounts Committee report, we are behind on the government target of 85% technical coverage by 2025, with 100% as soon as possible thereafter and we risk further slippage. This is not quick enough – it’s time we all worked together to help the UK get back on track to meet our targets, connect communities and supercharge the UK’s gigabit rollout. Darren Zitren is a partner in Cluttons’ Manchester office Listen: Watered-down connectivity targets ’cause for concern’ as digital capabilities underpin levelling-up agenda Image courtesy of Clutton