TIVERTON MP Rachel Gilmour is to lobby a government minister over her constituency’s poor broadband speeds.

The Liberal Democrat said her Tiverton and Minehead constituency had one of the highest proportions in the country of lines receiving broadband speeds lower than 10 megabytes per second (Mbps).

Around one in nine lines receive lower than that speed in her area, more than triple the national average, according to data from the House of Commons Library.

Ms Gilmour is due to meet Chris Bryant, the minister for data protection and telecoms soon.

The move comes as hopes for better broadband across rural parts of both Devon and Somerset were partially dashed last year, when a scheme was allowed to be significantly curtailed.

Only half of the 55,493 homes and businesses set to be connected to fast, fibre broadband will now be connected under an agreement between an organisation called Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) and its contractor, Airband.

CDS has representatives from Devon County Council on it, and is funded by the government and has also previously secured cash from the European Union.

The scale-back has been partly blamed on a restructure by Airband, which means it cannot fulfil its obligations to CDS.

Recent accounts for Airband to the end of 2023 showed a sharp fall in staff numbers from 485 to 235, and outlined a need for new funding by February.

“Far too many people in Tiverton and Minehead feel utterly cut off from the outside world,” Ms Gilmour said.

“Following Airband’s scale-back in November, I now welcome this opportunity to meet with the minister, Chris Bryant, where I hope to be given an update on broadband improvement, so that all constituents in Tiverton and Minehead can have access to high-speed wifi connections, which are vital to modern life.”

Bradley Gerrard