Kent County Council Calls for Urgent Government Action on £112 Million Broadband Rollout

A Slow Cable in a Fast World

For farms tucked behind the North Downs, small businesses trading from coastal towns, and families in villages that commercial providers wrote off years ago, fast broadband isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between getting on with life and falling behind. And right now, Kent County Council has had enough of waiting.

The council has called for urgent action to get Project Gigabit back on track, following talks with Building Digital UK (BDUK) — the government body responsible for rolling out broadband to harder-to-reach areas — and delivery partner CityFibre.

The Scale of What’s at Stake

The Kent and Medway rollout sits within a £112 million broadband upgrade. One of the biggest digital investment programmes the county has ever seen. So far, nearly 1,000 homes and businesses across Kent and Medway have been connected to full fibre under the scheme — a start, yes, but a fairly modest one given what still needs doing.

Project Gigabit exists specifically to reach communities that commercial providers won’t touch at any speed. Rural and remote areas, where laying fibre simply doesn’t stack up financially, are the target. Without public money stepping in, those places just wait.

Paul King, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Coastal Regeneration, said reliable broadband was “essential” — framing the project not merely as a tech upgrade but as a matter of economic survival for parts of the county.

What BDUK Says It’s Doing

BDUK says it’s publishing monthly progress reports on GOV.UK detailing the number of properties connected. The body is also planning a new national postcode checker — a tool that would let residents see whether their address is actually in the build plan and, crucially, when they might expect to be connected.

That kind of transparency matters. Right now, plenty of residents simply don’t know if they’re in scope or when anyone’s coming.

But the council’s call for urgency suggests that reporting tools and planned checkers haven’t fully put local minds at rest about the pace of delivery. The exact cause of any delay hasn’t been specified in materials released so far, and the Government’s full response remains unpublished. Which is, one might note, not especially reassuring.

Bigger Picture, Local Consequences

Nationally, the Government wants 99% gigabit-capable coverage by 2032. UK-wide coverage stood at around 87% by March 2025, according to BDUK figures — but that headline number papers over the patchwork reality in counties like Kent, where rural and coastal communities are still sitting on connections that belong in another era. CityFibre remains actively involved in the local build-out and work is continuing. For Kent County Council, though, the pace needs to match the promise.

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Key Takeaways

• Kent County Council is urging the Government to accelerate Project Gigabit after talks with BDUK and CityFibre, with the £112 million Kent and Medway scheme said to need urgent attention
• Nearly 1,000 homes and businesses in Kent and Medway have been connected to full fibre so far under the scheme
• BDUK plans a new national postcode checker to help residents find out whether and when their property will be connected

What This Means for Kent Residents

If you live in a rural village, work from a farm, or run a small business in a coastal town that’s been waiting years for a decent connection, this story is directly about you. The council’s intervention signals that local leaders are watching the rollout closely and pushing for faster delivery on your behalf. Once BDUK’s planned postcode checker goes live, residents will at least be able to check whether their address is in the build plan — cutting through some of the uncertainty that has frustrated communities across Kent and Medway for some time.